31/07/2026
BPO Workers Unite Against Pax Silica! Stand for Justice, Environmental Protection, and National Sovereignty!
sign the petition now: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/bpo-workers-unite-against-pax-silica-stand-for-justice-environmental-protection-and-national-sovereignty
We, the workers in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Industry, together with labor rights advocates, environmental defenders, and patriotic citizens, strongly register our opposition to the Pax Silica Initiative and the creation of its designated Economic Security Zone (ESZ) in New Clark City, Capas, Tarlac.
While our sector is constantly pushed to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) under the banner of "technological advancement" and "economic growth," the reality of Pax Silica reveals an initiative that threatens our job security, strains our national natural resources, surrenders our sovereignty, and drags our country into foreign geopolitical conflicts.
The 1,620-hectare Economic Security Zone in New Clark City is slated to consume 5 Gigawatts (GW) of electricity. A single medium-sized AI data center consumes 1.1 to 1.9 million liters (300,000 to 500,000 gallons) of fresh water daily for cooling. Globally, large-scale AI data centers can pull up to 5 million gallons a day, which is equivalent to the water consumption of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Working-class communities already face water rationing, high utility bills, and power outages. We do not need massive volumes of cheap local water and power being funneled into foreign-owned data centers and semiconductor manufacturing hubs.
Moreover, to feed the AI hardware supply chain through minerals such as nickel, cobalt, copper, and chromite, destructive mining will expand across Zambales, Palawan, Mindoro, and Nueva Vizcaya, displacing indigenous communities and destroying vital watersheds.
Foreign governments and local U.S. municipalities, with more than 69 local governments across 19 U.S. states as of May 2026, have already restricted or banned data centers due to pollution, congestion, and resource strain. We should not allow the Philippines to become a dumping ground for resource-intensive and ecologically destructive infrastructure.
Pax Silica is being framed as an "AI-native industrial acceleration hub," yet the technology, hardware, and operational control remain entirely in the hands of foreign corporations. Rather than building a self-reliant Philippine digital economy, it entrenches a foreign-controlled ecosystem designed to automate labor, extract our resources, and generate profits for overseas entities.
The promise of jobs cannot justify surrendering our economic future. Sustainable employment should not depend on foreign investment schemes that leave Filipinos vulnerable to exploitation, displacement, and global geopolitical interests. Genuine development comes from strengthening national industries, advancing Filipino science and technology, modernizing agriculture, and building domestic manufacturing that creates stable, high-quality jobs under Filipino control.
BPO workers are already on the frontlines of AI-driven job displacement and intensified workloads. Pax Silica prioritizes foreign corporate profits over national workforce protections, human-centered labor standards, or genuine digital upskilling.
The US and its allies are seeking "joint governance" and "diplomatic immunity" within the ESZ, creating a state-within-a-state where local courts lose jurisdiction, making foreign corporations immune from Philippine regulatory oversight and legal accountability.
The ESZ also serves as a dual-use military and defense hub for chip manufacturing, munitions assembly, and cybersecurity coordination with foreign military actors, including Israel. This places the Philippines deeper into foreign military tensions and transforms our country into a potential target of armed conflict, while allowing long-term foreign control of Philippine land through leases of up to 99 years.
OUR DEMANDS
1. Scrap all bilateral agreements, memoranda, and framework deals under the Pax Silica Initiative.
2. Put an immediate stop to resource-heavy data center expansion and destructive critical mineral extraction that jeopardize local freshwater supplies, energy grids, and ancestral lands.
3. Enact strict regulations on workplace AI implementation. Guarantee job security, just transition programs, fair compensation, protection against automated surveillance, and full respect for union rights and collective bargaining.
4. Ban any granting of extraterritorial rights, diplomatic immunity, or land giveaways to foreign military-industrial corporations. Ensure Philippine labor, environmental, and civil laws apply across the national territory without exception.
5. Reject a development model that relies on foreign corporations for employment. Pursue national industrialization by investing in Filipino-owned industries, modernizing agriculture, strengthening science and technology, expanding domestic manufacturing, and creating decent, secure, and sustainable jobs that serve the needs of the Filipino people.
