Raffy Tulfo raises concerns over proposed Pax Silica site in Tarlac

The proposed Pax Silica site in Tarlace has raised more questions after Senator Raffy Tulfo posed questions as to whether the Philippines has the capacity to regulate the United States-led initiative.

In a privilege speech on Tuesday, Tulfo cited the case of Chuangxing Steel Incorporated, the Pampanga-based manufacturing hub that was raided by authorities for creating substandard materials.

He said that despite incurring violations and breaking numerous environmental laws, the company was allowed to operate for years.

The local government unit had continuously granted Chuangxing business permits while the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had only been issuing notices of violation, the senator said.

“Mr. President, the lessons from Chuangxing in Magalang, Pampanga must guide us as we look at another major development, the Pax Silica project. Pax Silica is about 300 times bigger than Chuangxing as far as size goes. And if we could not handle such a small company, how about this big development? Investments are welcome, but transparency and accountability are non-negotiable,” Tulfo said.

The senator said Pax Silica presents good economic numbers, but it still needed to answer several questions, one of these being the large amount of water that the facility will reportedly consume.

As the chair of the Committee on Public Services, Tulfo said that there were clearly issues with water supplies.

While the government has touted more than 130,000 jobs to be generated from Pax Silica, he asked what kind of employments these would be.

“Estimates are not guarantees. Kung jobs, livelihood, at government revenues ang ipinapangako, dapat malinaw na bahagi ng agreement ang mga commitments na iyan,” Tulfo said.

(Estimates are not guarantees. If jobs, livelihood, and government revenues are promises, the agreement should be clear on these commitments.)

Tulfo said he has filed Senate Resolution 571 to probe the Pax Silica initiative. Similar measures to probe Pax Silica have been filed by senators Risa Hontiveros and Imee Marcos. —Jean Mangaluz/RF, GMA News