Amid the commemoration of the Philippines’ sham Independence Day on June 12, 154 international groups from 30 countries joined the call of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) Philippines to reject the US Pax Silica Initiative and shut down the economic security zone (ESZ) it plans to build in New Clark City. Aside from foreign groups, 88 organizations in the country and nearly 500 individuals signed the statement condemning the Marcos regime’s plan to surrender national sovereignty under the project.

In the manifesto titled “SHUT THE PAX DOWN! A Global Call to Reject Pax Silica’s Economic Security Zone in the Philippines,” the coalition stressed that the initiative does not serve genuine economic development in the Philippines. It said Pax Silica is an “aggressive maneuver by the US to secure its tech-military supremacy against global competitors, particularly China.” It also described Pax Silica as a “new wave of imperialist domination and plunder” aimed at consolidating US control over strategic territories and resources in the Indo-Pacific at the expense of the welfare of the Filipino people.

The US aggressively pushes the Pax Silica hub alongside the expansion of its military presence in the country under the cover of large-scale and intensive war games. Recently, it carried out the Balikatan exercises involving an estimated 17,000 troops. The planned 1,620-hectare ESZ in Tarlac will serve as a “weapons hub” for military production.

The groups warned that the US is pushing for special and extraterritorial privileges that “seriously undermine Philippine sovereignty and democratic accountability, while privileging foreign corporations and geopolitical interests over the rights and welfare of the Filipino people.”

The US treats the Philippines’ raw materials as inputs for its global supply chain in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors. In the country’s experience, mineral extraction is accompanied by environmental destruction, loss of livelihoods, and brutal state repression against resisting local communities, including national minorities.

The manifesto added, “Equally disturbing are the links between Pax Silica and corporations and contractors tied to US and Israeli military technologies, surveillance systems, autonomous warfare, and the global arms industry, which reveal the deeply militarized character of this project.”

The groups asserted that the path to genuine freedom lies in fighting for sovereignty rather than submitting to foreign powers. They called for the dismantling of all US military bases and facilities and the advancement of genuine national industrialization that serves the interests of the people.

Signatories to the manifesto include organizations from Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, China, Ecuador, Germany, Hawaii, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Palestine, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, United Kingdom, US, and Zambia. Six international alliances and five regional coalitions also signed the said petition.