AGHAM Negros Island Region

19/08/2026

30/07/2026

STATEMENT
July 31, 2026

NUCLEAR ENERGY POWER PLANT IN NEGROS, PANAY IS A DISASTER- FRAUGHT PROPOSAL

NUCLEAR ENERGY POWER PLANT IN NEGROS, PANAY IS A DISASTER- FRAUGHT PROPOSAL
AGHAM Negros Advocates of Science and Technology for the People slammed Pangasinan 2nd District Rep. Mark Cojuangco and chairman of the House Committee on Energy for urging Negros, Panay to put up a nuclear power plant, charging it will not benefit the people nor bring about development.

AGHAM stands that the proposal for nuclear power plant will not bring power supply stability, lower power rate for the next 80 years, and raise revenues for the local government units.

The case of 7 solar power plants and still increasing, 2 geothermal power plants, and several other biomass energy plants in Negros, are clear proof. They have not benefited the majority poor power consumers of the region, have not reduced power per kilowatt hour, because they are sold directly to the NGCP grid, controlled by big corporate power generators and distributors, and sold to the market via same corporate entity WESM acting like forex trading company.

AGHAM also asserts that the proposal courts a huge disaster for both the environment and the people of the two regions and entire Visayas territory.

Negros island sits on 2-3 major faults, the path of the volatile Negros trench, and hosts the active Kanlaon volcano, while Panay nests on a major West Panay fault which caused major damaging quakes in the past, and the newly constructed Jalaur dam which if damaged by major earthquake could flood a large part of central Iloilo.

As progressive and patriotic scientists and engineers, we are not against nuclear technology and research. Like all fields of science and technology, nuclear research in the Philippines (and the Filipino scientists and engineers that make it happen) should be supported in as much as such research and technological development presents clear benefits for the Filipino people.

What we opposed is the fact that so long as the energy sources, the technology, the laws governing them, and the supplier of imported techs are controlled by corporate power and the multinational corporations, the people and the environment will continue to bear the brunt of monopoly, class oppression and exploitation.

AGHAM knows very well that these renewable and clean energies, including the proposed nuclear power plant, will only be used to propel the dirty, plunderous and destructive projects of the billionaire oligarchs and their foreign capitalist backers - and not for the benefit of people’s comprehensive development.

Cojuangco’s urging followed Marcos Jr. push to revisit nuclear energy production in the country. The same prodding was made by DOE Secretary Sharon Garin after Marcos Jr push when she said that the agency is exploring nuclear power suppliers to meet the projected demand for 3,000-megawatt of the US- Pax Silica AI hub in New Clark City instead of relying straight from the Luzon grid.

Marcos Jr administration's plans to introduce and develop nuclear energy technology in the country has been locked in since at least November 2023 with the 123 Agreement with the United States. Questionable suppliers and players like Valar Atomics, a three-year old US military-linked startup with no track record to speak of in nuclear energy, are now being involved in developing nuclear energy technology in the Philippines, without regard for genuine and proper consultation and hearings with all major stakeholders. While nuclear research and technology initiatives by our patriotic Filipino scientists are being railroaded and unsupported.

The Marcos Jr. administration and the United States government under Trump do not seem to be content with the level of controversy already surrounding the Pax Silica Economic Security Zone. They want to compound the problem by pushing for nuclear energy development without regard for its social, environmental, and technical impact.

For this, AGHAM calls on Negrosanon, Panayanon and the entire Visayan people, to resist and scrap the proposal to establish nuclear power plant in any territory in the central Philippines.

It reiterates its support for the scrapping of the Pax Silica project in its entirety, and instead pursue a genuine national industrialization policy focused on meeting the needs of the Filipino people, the workers and peasants, by honing and developing further local expertise, manufacturing industries, maximizing local appropriate technologies and indigenous resources.

Reference:

KARL OMBION
Secretary General
AGHAM NIR
09690868514

EUGENE CATALAN
Chairman
AGHAM NIR
09776975030

28/07/2026

AGHAM Negros Statement on Marcos Jr. 5th SONA
ANOTHER RECYCLED PRO-US, ANTI-PEOPLE, ANTI-INDUSTRIALIZATION POLICIES IN NEW RHETORICS
July 28, 2026

The Marcos Jr’s 5TH SONA offers nothing new but another recycled policies in new rhetorics and embellishment.

Marcos ignores again the people’s immediate demands to carry out comprehensive land reform not CLOA splitting and individual titling and condonation of past debts, repeal of the oil deregulation law which has caused unstoppable soaring of fuel prices, the removal of the VAT on oil, electricity, and water, the substantial wage hike for the working class.

Marcos Jr has not, cannot and will not slap charges against his top officials, congressmen-women and senators, including his cousin, former Speaker Martin Romualdez, because to do so will open the floodgate to Malacanang and bring the whole corrupt empire down.

Marcos Jr, following the footsteps of his late fascist dictator, has totally capitulated to US imperialism this time pawning our national sovereignty and resources under the Pax Silica agreement due for signing in November visit of Trump, all of that on top of the sprawling mobile EDCA US military bases in the whole archipelago.

He bragged of the US-led Pax Silica as part of his already discredited and proven anti people and anti industrialization policy of debt and foreign investment-driven, import-dependent, export-oriented under the baton of neoliberal policies of liberalization, deregulation, privatization and de-nationalization.

The real state of the people and nation reverberates today across the archipelago, rural countrysides and urban centers where the workers, peasants, transport and communication workers, the greater exploited and oppressed masses are rising to demand accountability and vehemently resist and reject the puppet, oppressive, and repressive US-Marcos Jr. regime.

In Negros capital Bacolod City, and Dumaguete City, thousands gathered on Marcos Jr’s SONA to militantly demand accountability and express their collective rejection of the rotten, corrupt, puppet and fascist regime.

Despite the desperate suppression tactics employed by the police, military and their paramilitary forces and agents —including red-tagging, intimidation, harassment, and illegal arrests in the National Capital Region and other cities and urban centers – the people are not silenced.

The wave of militarization, the massive red tagging of activists, journalists and critics, and the continuing massacres and mass killings in Negros – have only fueled the collective resolve of the people to struggle for real social change.

AGHAM Negros maintains its firm stand that the US-Marcos Jr corrupt and fascist regime is incapable of solving the fundamental socio-eco-political problems of the country, much less in transforming it into a truly independent, industrialized and progressive nation.

Only through the people’s collective struggles, with support of our scientists, engineers and other thousands of STEM professionals and advocates, can national freedom and democracy with socialist perspective be achieved and flourish.

25/07/2026

Reject Pax Silica! Join the People's SONA! Siyentista, Makiisa! Ipaglaban ang karapatan! ✊

📍 10:00 AM – Mercury Drug, Tandang Sora, Quezon City (Morning Program)

📍 12:00 PM – Commonwealth, Quezon City (People's SONA Mobilization)

Itakwil ang papet, pasista, at pahirap na Rehimeng Marcos! Labanan ang imperyalistang gera at pandarambong!

📩 PM us to join the coordination groupchat 😊

24/07/2026

Siyentista, Makiisa! Ipaglaban ang karapatan! ✊

⏰ July 27, Afternoon
📍 Commonwealth, Ever Gotesco

Itakwil ang papet, pasista, at pahirap na Rehimeng Marcos! Labanan ang imperyalistang gera at pandarambong!

📩 PM us to join the coordination groupchat 😊

24/07/2026

PRESS RELEASE
Scientist group debunks the claims of BCDA on Pax Silica
AGHAM ADVOCATES OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PEOPLE
July 24, 2026

AGHAM takes issue with some of the claims made by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) with regards to the proposed 1,620 hectare Pax Silica Economic Security Zone (ESZ) in Tarlac. Based on publicly available information and data, we have assessed BCDA’s claims and show below that, at best, they present an incomplete picture of the potential impacts of the Pax Silica project. As a progressive group of scientists, engineers, and STEM advocates, we continue to register our opposition to the Pax Silica project.

Claim #1: Pax Silica will not displace farmers and IPs.
According to reports from local media, the BCDA has already put out an initial list of Project Affected Persons for the project earlier this month, showing that residents of Brgys. O'Donnel, Aranguren, and Santa Lucia of Capas, Tarlac will be impacted. According to data from the Capas municipal LGU, over 30% of its land area is considered productive agricultural land. In fact, local government projects conducted this year have targeted farmers from the three barangays mentioned, as well as farmers from adjacent barangays who belong to indigenous groups. There are also Aeta communities in the area of New Clark City (adjacent to the Pax Silica site) whose ancestral lands are not formally recognized by the NCIP. These are the farmers and IP groups that will be displaced. Displacement can be direct physical displacement or indirect displacement by loss of livelihood, and the immense scale of the project will undoubtedly affect the livelihoods of farmers both inside and outside the project area.

Claim #2: Pax Silica will run primarily on renewable energy like solar.
The AI data centers that Pax Silica is courting will run 24/7, and intermittent energy sources like solar and wind may not be able to supply energy consistently for this purpose since they are highly dependent on environmental factors. This would likely mean that, in reality, Pax Silica will still use fossil fuels, or introduce controversial sources like nuclear, to power much of its operations. There are reports of how data centers in the US are resorting to diesel generators to keep operations running, resulting in massive air pollution. Even if they were to use solar, supplying even just half of the projected 3 - 5 gigawatt (GW) energy consumption of the project would require over a thousand hectares of additional land for solar farms. Simply put, more displacement, and more social and ecological devastation.

Claim #3: Pax Silica will not use community water, and instead will rely on surface water harvesting.
Surface water harvesting, or rainfall collection, will still mean reducing the water used or available for farmers and their communities, including communities downstream of the project. Rainfall is one of the ways underground aquifers are recharged, and diverting this water to resource-intensive development projects will undoubtedly affect the community water sources in the area. There are reports in other countries how communities are now dealing with dirty tap and drinking water due to nearby operations of AI data centers, the same centers Pax Silica wants to bring into our country. This claim by the BCDA also raises the question how water needs of the project will be met in situations of drought or low rainfall, which are becoming more frequent with worsening climate change.

Claim #4: Pax Silica will produce hundreds of thousands of jobs for Filipinos.
The AI data centers Pax Silica wants to introduce will not actually lead to a significant number of long-term jobs. For example, the hyperscale data centers of Meta and OpenAI in North America, of which a single campus can occupy over 500 hectares, only produce hundreds of long-term jobs at most; any claim that "thousands of jobs" are generated by AI data centers likely pertains to temporary construction work. On the other hand, it is possible that the much-flaunted "advanced manufacturing" brought in by potential investors such as Foxconn can generate thousands of blue-collar jobs. These jobs, however, will very likely be oriented towards production for export rather than Philippine consumption, simply replicating what is happening in other export processing zones in the country. It is also likely, as is the case in Foxconn's operations in India, that managers, engineers, and technicians will still be sourced from other countries rather than from the Philippines.

Claim #5: Pax Silica will not manufacture weapons, and is intended for commercial AI, semiconductor, and advanced manufacturing industries.
The US has used AI for its military operations, as we are seeing in its current war on Iran. Semiconductors, microchips, and other so-called "high value" electronic products all have military applications in modern warfare. While obvious weapons like missiles and bombs might not be on the table, it would be naive of us to assume that none of the potential products of Pax Silica in the Philippines will be used in the US's ongoing and future war efforts. In fact, BCDA itself apparently cannot categorically state that the project’s products will not be used for war in the long term, stating only that the Pax Silica ESZ “is intended” for commercial products only.

Prof. Giovanni Tapang, PhD, spokesperson of AGHAM: "The BCDA and the Marcos Jr. administration are clearly desperate to whitewash their environmentally destructive and unsustainable Pax Silica project with the United States. The facts are clear — a project of this scale will invariably impact local farming communities negatively, and will not present any clear, long-term opportunities for the genuine development of our country. Like so many projects before it, Pax Silica will only maintain our dependence on foreign companies and their technologies, while Filipinos are stuck with the backbreaking menial labor and the massive environmental cost. Instead of lopsided agreements with a warmongering imperialist power, what we need is a robust national industrialization policy that prioritizes the products Filipinos actually need — food, provision of social services, among many other things — placing people and planet first over profit." #

Sources:

Claim 1
https://capas.gov.ph/socio-economic
Capas Municipal Agriculture Office with ongoing projects for Capas farmers: https://www.facebook.com/p/CAPAS-Municipal-Agriculture-Office-100069022126143/
Pokus Gitnang Luson report on residents affected by Pax Silica: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1640071054792028

Claim 2
https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-data-center-boom-is-a-diesel-generator-boom/
Calculation of land area for solar energy requirements based on MTerra Solar Project data: https://meralcopowergen.com.ph/mterra-solar-project-breaks-ground-a-monumental-milestone-in-the-philippines-renewable-energy-transition/
Projected Pax Silica ESZ energy consumption: https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2026/7/24/pax-silica-to-build-own-power-sources-to-cover-3-gigawatt-energy-needs-bcda-0000
https://business.inquirer.net/596398/pax-silicas-mammoth-power-needs-draw-maharlika-foreign-interest

Claim 3
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8gy7lv448o

Claim 4
Compare to job creation in other data centers: https://thecurrentga.org/2026/07/22/20-billion-openai-data-center-to-open-in-effingham-county/
Foxconn India job creation: https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/foxconn-women-led-iphone-plant-hires-30000-staff-in-record-india-hiring-2839669-2025-12-22
Involvement of Chinese and Taiwanese workers in Foxconn India plant: https://restofworld.org/2025/china-foxconn-factoriesfoxconn-stops-sending-chinese-workers-to-india-iphone-factories/v

Claim 5
AI use in US war on Iran: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/11/us-military-confirms-use-of-advanced-ai-tools-in-war-against-iran