The United States and the Philippines are planning a 4,000 hectares “economic security zone” in New Clark City, Tarlac, designed to anchor allied semiconductor and AI supply chains. Negotiations for a framework agreement were ongoing until mid-2026, and technical assessments had begun, while the communities living on this land had yet to be heard.
The promise on paper
Official projections are important, but they represent government estimates, not realized results.
The Base Conversion and Development Authority envisaged that the Pax Silica Hub could attract 40 to 70 billion dollars and investments and generate 130,000 to 190,000 jobs. Philippine law allows foreign businesses commercial and industrial land for up to 99 yearsa detail that rarely appears in promotional material.
What the numbers don’t say
The Hub’s projected resource demands raise serious questions that have not yet received independent answers.
The estimated power requirement is approx 3 gigawattsaccording to BCDA officials. Officials initially described the project as solar-powered, though later reports indicated a proposed mix of solar and liquefied natural gas, leaving the energy plan unresolved.
Describing this mixture as “green” is a characterization, not an engineering verdict. Solar generation still requires land, storage capacity, transmission infrastructure, and materials whose environmental costs need independent assessment.
Water demand is predicted at 65 million to 90 million liters per dayaccording to BCDA. Officials say that figure could scale to 300 million liters as the technology expands, with collected rainwater stored in impounding facilities serving as the primary source.
Critics question whether this system can reliably meet industrial demand during the Philippines’ dry season, when farmers in Central Luzon also need irrigation water. No independent feasibility study confirming the reliability of the rainwater system has been completed as of the date of this reporting.
Whose country, Whose consent
Aeta communities dispute the government’s account of who lives on the proposed site and what will happen to them.
The proposed site sits within the former Clark US military complex, territory where Aeta communities have lived for generations, before the base itself according to Mongabay reporting. Mapping work cited by Mongabay shows that planned construction could affect at least three Aeta villages.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said that no indigenous communities or cemeteries will be displaced. Community testimony reported by Mongabay presents a different account: residents say they have already been told to leave.
The BCDA maintains that the project sits on public land with no formal ancestral domain title covering the site. That framing requires context. Maintain formality ancestral-domain recognition in the Philippines requires detailed maps, genealogies, census data, and testimony. Aeta communities have reportedly pursued this certification process for decades without resolution.
The absence of a formal title reflects a demanding administrative process, not necessarily the absence of historical occupation or legitimate customary rights. These are different propositions, and the conflation of them forms the whole responsibility debate.
Activist-scientist Jona Yang of AGHAM, quoted by Mongabay as speaking after a police confrontation at a Manila investor forum, was quoted as saying: “We want the Marcos government and the investors to see the outrage that caused it all. They are taking away our resources and our lands.” Mongabay reported that environmentalists, scientists and concerned residents participated in the protest. Police reported officer injuries; Activists claim their own injuries and arrests.
What accountability actually looks like
Specific, enforceable steps exist that will meaningfully improve as this project progresses.
Independent environmental review should be completed before construction commitments are locked, not applied after the main parameters of the project have been determined. Really Free, Prior, and Informed Consent with Aeta communities cannot be replaced by a government denial on their behalf. Public feasibility studies on water and power demand are exaggerated, and accountability structures must bear real consequences after foreign capital arrives.
The Pax Silica Hub could become a template for AI-era industrial zones across allied nations. Whether this template includes communities bearing its costs is still an open question, and the answer depends on whether the investigation arrives before the concrete does.