Youth advocacy group Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) sharply criticized the Marcos Jr. administration on Tuesday for endorsing “Pax Silica,” a US-backed economic security plan designed to establish a global supply chain for artificial intelligence and semiconductor manufacturing, warning it will harm the environment and shortchange the local economy.
SPARK expressed strong opposition to the project, cautioning that the heavy resource extraction and industrial buildup required would trigger widespread environmental degradation and community displacement.
“We are already foreseeing the ecological degradation that would be triggered by the wide-scale extractive operations, industrial processes, and displacement of local communities needed to fulfill Trump and Marcos’ designs in Central Luzon,” SPARK said.
The group further warned that expanding copper and nickel extraction would severely worsen ecological risks in a country already hit hard by climate change.
“The nickel and copper mining projects alone would cause massive deforestation and erosion at a time when we are already one of the most climate vulnerable countries,” the group added.
While President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. touted the initiative during his fifth State of the Nation Address on July 27 as a driver for quality jobs and an AI-focused industrial hub in New Clark City, SPARK countered that foreign corporations and local elites stand to benefit most, leaving the country with ecological damage and no guaranteed technology transfer.
“There are no guarantees of industrial development outside of what multinational companies want and need. We will not benefit from Pax Silica if technological transfer is not guaranteed to provide us with a competitive advantage. All the US can guarantee is the further destruction of land, natural resources, and the exploitation of our country’s workforce,” SPARK argued.
Slated to span over 1,600 hectares in Pampanga, the Pax Silica framework agreement between the Philippines and the U.S. is targeted for signing in November during the ASEAN Leaders’ Summit in Manila.