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Agence France-Presse

Tribal leader Petronila Munoz walked across the sweeping Philippine grasslands she has called home for generations, uncertain about its future, as a sprawling tech hub for a US-led initiative takes shape.
With little information and no prior consultation, the indigenous chieftain said her Aeta Hungey tribe was uncertain how much of their land could be affected or what would become of the livelihood it provided.
“There’s still no clarity,” Munoz said inside the tribe’s traditional meeting hall. “What will happen to us? That’s our biggest question.”
In April, the United States announced that the Philippines had joined Pax Silica, a US-led effort to strengthen supply chains for semiconductors and rare earth elements and reduce participating countries’ dependence on China.
The Philippines has designated a 1,620-hectare (4,000-acre) site in New Clark City in Tarlac province, north of Manila, for a manufacturing hub aimed at producing high-end components for use in artificial intelligence data centres.

The government estimates the initiative could attract up to US$70 billion in investment and create about 190,000 jobs, a major boost to a country with more than three million unemployed people.
The project has a long timeline. No tenants have been confirmed. Plans to domestically process the country’s mineral resources could be even further away.
For about 1,000 Aetas, however, the prospect of displacement is already here. In July, they received a letter from the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) warning that the project “could affect your occupied lands”.
Munoz said visiting BCDA employees told them to leave by December and relocate to an area about 16km (10 miles) from their current home, without providing a master plan showing which parts of their ancestral domains would be affected.
She said the BCDA offered them just 30 pesos (50 US cents) per square metre (10 square feet) for their lands, an offer all declined.

“Our lives, our livelihood and our culture are tied to this ancestral land,” Munoz said. “Land is more important. Money runs out.”
The BCDA declined to address specific questions about the Aetas’ situation and rejected a freedom of information request for the site’s official boundary map and geospatial data. It said the information was being “withheld temporarily until the official action is finalised or published”.
At a Senate hearing last month, BCDA president Joshua Bingcang said the Aetas were living on government land. Like many indigenous groups in the Philippines, they hold no land title.
Environmental impact
Civic groups have also raised concerns about the project’s environmental impact, particularly the demand for water and electricity in a country plagued by droughts and rotational power outages.
The US Statement Department said “environmental, water, energy, and community-impact studies” would inform the project’s design.
“Before any major development happens, we expect rigorous stakeholder impact assessments will take place,” a representative said.

Bingcang told the Senate that investors would be required to build their own power and water systems.
Alvin Camba, research director at an AI firm focused on supply chains and risk assessment, said Manila’s close relationship with the United States could motivate investors to set up shop despite the power concerns.
Last month, reports said Washington planned to warn countries they could be excluded from Pax Silica if they joined a rival framework backed by Beijing.
“This is where the advantage of the Philippines comes in. The Philippines is the least affected by Chinese capital in Southeast Asia,” Camba said, adding that the country would offer foreign companies the ability to “disentangle” from China.
Political economist Calixto Chikiamco said Pax Silica represented a “historic opportunity” for the Philippines to move beyond its traditional wheelhouse of microchip testing and packaging. “We have to open up to foreign investment so that technology transfer [to the Philippines] will happen,” he said.

The BCDA had been conducting public consultations in Tarlac and nearby provinces, but the agency had yet to hold talks with her tribe, Munoz said.
The Aetas remain uncertain if the government would help them build new homes or provide land to cultivate for income if they are moved.
“I wish they would listen to us. They’re just talking among themselves,” she said, adding that she worried her tribe would not be qualified for the sort of new jobs Pax Silica promised.
While a proponent of the initiative, Chikiamco said the government was doing “a terrible job” explaining the benefits and trade-offs it represented.
Why do we have to be the ones to sacrifice for the kind of development they want?
Petronila Munoz, Aeta Hungey tribal leader
Camba agreed: “I would actually advise the Philippine government to be very transparent about what’s happening. A big problem is transparency.”
Still, the benefits outweigh the risks, he said. “Every country that has … jump-started development has had to make sacrifices.”
But 63-year-old Munoz, who hopes to be buried in her tribe’s traditional burial ground, said she would not leave, even if a backhoe flattened her home.
“Why do we have to be the ones to sacrifice for the kind of development they want?” she asked.


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The Philippines

Filipino chieftain Petronila Munoz points at the proposed land where the Pax Silica Hub might be built in Capas, Tarlac province, on September 2. Photo: AFP

People march in protest against Pax Silica in Manila on August 13. Photo: AFP

A road where Pax Silica Hub might be built is under construction in Capas, Tarlac province, on August 10. Photo: AFP

Aeta children play outside their home in Capas, Tarlac province, on August 10. Photo: AFP

A member of the Aeta tribe stands outside her house in Capas, Tarlac province, on September 2. Photo: AFP

Tribal leader Petronila Munoz works inside her house in Capas, Tarlac province, on September 2. Photo: AFP

Filipino chieftain Petronila Munoz stands in a church built by her tribe in Capas, Tarlac province, on September 2. Photo: AFP

Aeta children play basketball in Capas, Tarlac province, on August 10. Photo: AFP

US-led Luzon corridor in Philippines faces growing scrutiny over real local benefits

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr delivers a speech during the Luzon Economic Corridor  Investment Forum in Manila on Thursday. Photo: EPA

Initially conceptualised as a transport and logistics project, the Luzon Economic Corridor has expanded into  development plans for energy, digital infrastructure, critical minerals and advanced manufacturing. Photo: US embassy in the Philippines

A toll booth at the Clark Freeport Zone in the Philippines. Photo: Handout

Visitors queue to get free goodies from a Philippine exhibitor’s booth during the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Will Philippines win race to secure Pax Silica hub before neighbours do?

A protester holds a sign during a rally on a road leading to the US embassy in Manila on July 13, expressing opposition to Philippines-US defence agreements and the US-led Pax Silica initiative. Photo: EPA

US Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Elbridge Colby (right) shakes hands with Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez during a forum in Manila on Monday. Photo: AP

Protesters begin to dismantle props representing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and US leader Donald Trump during a rally in Manila on July 13. Photo: EPA

Protesters hold a rally in Manila on July 13 protesting against Philippine-US defence agreements and the US-led Pax Silica initiative. Photo: EPA

The Philippines, sovereignty and the Pax Silica Industrial Hub – how US’ Helberg sees it

Protesters in Manila express opposition to the US-led Pax Silica international initiative, which brings countries together to secure global supply chains for advanced technologies. Photo: EPA

Philippines’ Pax Silica AI hub plan slammed for mineral ‘plunder’

Protesters hold a rally against the US-led Pax Silica  project and defence deals between the US and the Philippines in Manila on July 4. Photo: EPA

The US-led Pax Silica summit held in Washington in June to discuss boosting AI supply chains. Photo: Handout

An Aeta tribeswoman and her two children wait for alms from tourists outside a resort in Boracay Island, Philippines, in 2006. Photo: AFP

The Philippine hub under the Pax Silica project is part of the Luzon Economic Corridor. Photo: US embassy in the Philippines

US Pax Silica hub plan hits Philippine sovereignty wall: ‘no special arrangement’

Tugboats assist a container ship as it prepares to dock at the Manila International Container Terminal on April 8. Photo: AP 

The Luzon Economic Corridor spans four cities on the island. Photo: US embassy in the Philippines

American and Filipino soldiers stand guard as a Black Hawk helicopter manoeuvres during an artillery live-fire exercise as part of Balikatan in New Clark City in April 2023. Photo: dpa

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The Aetas have been offered just 50 US cents per square metre of land to make way for the sprawling tech hub. All have refused


The Aetas have been offered just 50 US cents per square metre of land to make way for the sprawling tech hub. All have refused.


Philippine tribe vows to stand ground against US-led Pax Silica: ‘listen to us’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Aetas have been offered just 50 US cents per square metre of land to make way for the sprawling tech hub. All have refused

The Aetas have been offered just 50 US cents per square metre of land to make way for the sprawling tech hub. All have refused