24/07/2026
BIEN Stands in Firm Opposition to the Pax Silica Initiative
BIEN stands in firm opposition to the Pax Silica initiative because it threatens to deepen the exploitation of Filipino labor while sacrificing our national sovereignty, communities, and natural resources.
The project is being presented as an “AI-native investment acceleration hub” that will anchor semiconductor production, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and critical minerals processing in the Philippines. But beneath the promise of technology and investment lies another model of development that secures global supply chains and strategic resources for foreign powers amid the escalating US-China technology war, while leaving Filipino workers to bear the costs.
Workers have heard these promises before. BPO workers have lived them.
For decades, workers have been told that foreign investments would bring quality jobs and shared prosperity. Instead, workers continue to endure low wages, contractualization, attacks on unions, unsafe workplaces, and insecure employment. There is nothing in Pax Silica that guarantees living wages, security of tenure, freedom of association, or safe and humane working conditions.
For BPO workers, this arrangement is already familiar. Every day, we provide skilled labor for clients thousands of kilometers away, carrying out work shaped by decisions made in foreign boardrooms. We know what it means to answer to priorities set elsewhere and to have our jobs affected by decisions we have no hand in making. Pax Silica threatens to deepen this same pattern, extending foreign dependence beyond labor to our land, natural resources, strategic industries, and national development.
The lesson is one BPO workers know well: when development depends on serving foreign interests, workers are expected to absorb the risks while others reap the rewards. Pax Silica asks the Filipino people to accept this same arrangement—not only in our workplaces, but in our national development.
The document itself identifies “enhanced operations” within an Economic Security Zone that would allow unrestricted access to Philippine labor, minerals, energy resources, and strategic location. It also raises concerns over “joint governance” arrangements and proposals for “enhanced operational certainty” that undermine Philippine sovereignty. Filipino workers and communities should not be asked to surrender democratic control over our country’s resources in exchange for promises of investment.
Pax Silica also raises serious concerns about the environment. Massive data centers, semiconductor facilities, and mineral extraction require enormous amounts of electricity, water, and land while generating pollution and accelerating the destruction of our natural resources. At a time when ordinary Filipinos already struggle with soaring electricity, water, and housing costs, it is unacceptable to prioritize the demands of multinational corporations over the needs of our people.
Most alarming is that the initiative could further integrate the Philippines into global military logistics and weapons production under the guise of economic development. Filipino workers should never become instruments in geopolitical conflicts that serve the interests of powerful nations rather than our own people.
True industrialization is not built on cheap labor, unrestricted corporate privileges, and foreign control. It is built on national development that creates decent jobs, strengthens domestic industries and Filipino technological capacity, protects the environment, respects workers’ rights, and upholds Philippine sovereignty. The Philippines needs industrialization that serves the Filipino people, not one that deepens our dependence on foreign capital and geopolitical interests.
BIEN calls on workers, trade unions, and all democratic sectors to oppose Pax Silica and reject any development model that promotes exploitation under the banner of innovation. Artificial intelligence and advanced technology must benefit workers and society, not become another tool for extracting corporate profit, weakening labor rights, and placing the Philippines at the center of the US-China power struggle.
The Philippines deserves technological development that serves the Filipino people, not a development model that places our labor, natural resources, and future at the service of foreign corporate profit and imperialist ambitions.
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