With the continued push of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration for the Pax Silica initiative, student journalists across the University of the Philippines (UP) system highlight the need to intensify nuanced reporting on industrial hubs and artificial intelligence (AI) led by the United States (US).
During the UP Solidaridad Biannual Congress at UP Mindanao, student publications adopted a resolution calling for timely reports that address the harmful effects of Pax Silica and generative AI on the Philippines’ local communities, natural resources and sovereignty.
“The misuse of AI and the construction of Pax Silica threatens the lay people it purports to benefit and the UP Solidaridad and its member publications should commit to a continued campaign of uncovering AI’s detrimental environmental effects, emphasizing the significance of nuanced, evidence-based, and scientific journalism,” the resolution read.
UP Solidaridad is the systemwide alliance of student publications and writers’ organizations.
The resolution also called for “humanized” reporting on individuals directly or indirectly affected by the Pax Silica initiative, such as the Aeta and farming communities near the planned industrial hub in New Clark City, Capas, Tarlac.
The Philippines and the US plan to establish the initiative’s first AI-native investment hub in a 1,620-hectare Economic Security Zone within the Luzon Economic Corridor.
Capas Mayor Roseller Rodriguez said in the Aug. 14 Senate environment committee’s first hearing on Pax Silica that no consultation was done with local communities, contrary to the earlier claim of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), which oversees the hub’s construction.
Aeta community leaders of Sitio Sapang Kawayan, which is within the planned hub, opposed the project due to threats to their livelihoods and disruption of ancestral burial grounds.
Farmers expressed concern over the project’s intrusion on agricultural lands in Capas that may drive land grabbing in nearby communities for AI-related infrastructure.
Local environmental groups also warned of the project’s impact on local water resources. The Pax Silica industrial hub is projected to consume 65 to 90 million liters of water daily, according to BCDA. Meanwhile, New Clark City’s currently has a daily water capacity of up to 20 million liters, with demand at under three million.
Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (AGHAM) challenged BCDA’s claim that the project would rely on surface water, saying it will still reduce available water supplies for farmers and downstream communities.
Pax Silica’s ‘myths’
In his recent State of the Nation Address, Marcos touted the Philippines’ April 16 signing of the Pax Silica initiative, making it the 13th member in the 25-nation alliance.
The Pax Silica initiative is a US-led effort seeking to “reduce coercive dependencies” in the global tech supply chain to China by uniting its signatory countries to fund and establish advanced technological companies that will “protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence.”
But the resolution noted that Marcos’ economic promises of quality jobs and accelerating industrial competitiveness through Pax Silica remain a “myth.”
Economic think tank IBON Foundation highlighted that previous foreign semiconductor companies like US-owned Intel failed to initiate electronic production despite decades-long presence in the country.
IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa argued that the local electronics industry remains tied to an export-oriented economic model that exploits Filipinos’ cheap labor and the country’s critical minerals for foreign companies.
The persisting model also restricts long-term gains for national industrialization — an approach unlikely to shift under Pax Silica. “This isn’t development, it is providing the address for someone else’s industrialization,” Africa added.
The resolution authored by The Manila Collegian, The Staple and Scientia further enjoined student journalists to include the implications of partnerships such as Pax Silica in the country’s diplomatic relations in their reports.
“The continued control of imperialist and capitalist entities on AI and related technological industries renders significant harm than good to the general public,” it highlighted.
Multinational companies such as Meta, OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft and Google set up their data centers outside the US to access cheaper energy, according to a study by the Synergy Research Group cited in a New York Times Report.
Nearly 60% of the 1,244 AI data centers instead deplete water and energy resources in other nations such as Mexico and Malaysia.
Experts said that AI data centers contributed to water scarcity and disrupted local ecosystems after consuming vast amount of water to cool computers that computes massive inputs and data.
Although BCDA claimed that there will be no large AI data centers in the Pax Silica hub in Tarlac and will instead focus on semiconductor and advanced technology manufacturing, community advocates argued that water and energy resources could’ve been allocated to local communities amid a global ‘water bankruptcy’ and surging electricity costs.
The terms and framework for the planned industrial hub in Tarlac will reportedly be finalized by November 2026, coinciding with the country’s hosting of the 49th ASEAN summit.
The resolution adopted by UP Solidaridad also seeks to capacitate its member publications with information on the different consequences of AI. It aims to formalize a policy on the use of generative AI to serve as an “example of judicious use of AI.”
UP student publications adopted 10 resolutions during the Biannual Congress at UP Min from Aug. 3 to 5.
These include a resolution to amplify media campaigns on the calls for justice for the Toboso 19 Massacre, to reject the passage of the Anti-Disinformation Bill and to urge UP student publications to livestream the Student Regent Selection process during the general assembly of student councils.
