Disaster awaits Filipino workers with the entry of Foxconn, a Taiwan-based manufacturing company. Foxconn (also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.) is considered the largest electronics manufacturing company that assembles products for Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Sony.

Officials of the Marcos regime announced this July the entry of Foxconn as an “anchor investor” or primary investor in the US-backed “economic security zone” being built in New Clark City under the Pax Silica framework. This 1,619-hectare economic security zone located in New Clark City in Tarlac and Pampanga is considered an “AI-native industrial acceleration hub.” The agreement between the Marcos regime and Foxconn is expected to be finalized before the end of 2026.

Foxconn has a long record of severe abuse, extreme overworking of employees, and inhumane working conditions.

In 2010, several workers in Shenzhen, China, committed suicide due to intense pressure, military-style management, and long working hours. The company’s response was merely to install “suicide nets” at the dormitories where its workers lived. Overtime of 80 to 100 hours per month is common, and speaking or using the restroom outside designated times is prohibited.

Foxconn employs students as “interns” whom it pays below the minimum wage. These students are forced to work overtime on tasks unrelated to their fields of study. In 2011 and 2012, several people died when combustible aluminum dust exploded in its factories.

In India, the company prevented the formation of independent trade unions. The company pays the workers slave-like wages and does not provide proper housing.

Abuses like these or worse are what Filipino workers could face in Foxconn’s factories within the US “economic security zone.” Foxconn could use short-term contracts to easily “hire and fire” workers based on demand, and to avoid providing severance pay and the formation of unions.

Because it falls under the Pax Silica hub, which is a “special economic zone,” it may not strictly comply with national regulations. Its violations of workers’ rights and welfare might not be prosecuted in local agencies and courts, but rather in international institutions.

Due to Foxconn’s track record of safety regulation violations, it poses a major threat to the health of Filipinos, especially in handling chemicals in semiconductor processing.

On the other hand, Foxconn will enjoy special incentives, tax breaks, and other favors. In accordance with what has been agreed upon between the US and the Philippines, it will not pay rent for the first two years of its operations.