Youth and students staged a protested at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman in Quezon City on July 26 to denounce the economic security zone (ESZ) being established by the US in New Clark City under the Pax Silica initiative. The protest was led by the League of Filipino Students (LFS), an allied organization of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

Prior to the action, the LFS hosted a forum discussing the multiple problems the Pax Silica initiative would bring to the Filipino people. The forum highlighted how the project would undermine national sovereignty, plunder natural resources, and harm the environment, public health, and people’s rights. The group added that the initiative would further drag the Philippines into the conflict between the US and China, endangering Filipinos.

The ESZ is being built on a 1,619-hectare tract of land in New Clark City, Tarlac. It is envisioned as an “AI-native industrial acceleration hub” exclusively for US companies and their invited allies. The zone will house an artificial intelligence hub, data centers, and other infrastructure. These data hubs will require a massive volume of ultrapure water and a power supply of at least 5 gigawatts for the entire security zone.

The project was inaugurated on May 18, attended by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg. More than 20 major American companies have already said they will invest in it. The Marcos regime announced this July that Taiwan-based manufacturing company Foxconn will serve as the project’s “anchor investor” or main investor.

The project’s opening was inaugurated on May 18, attended by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg. More than 20 major American companies have already expressed intentions to invest. This July, the Marcos administration announced that Foxconn, a Taiwan-based manufacturing company, will serve as the project’s anchor investor.

The Marcos regime, the Department of National Defense, and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, which oversees New Clark City, have launched various schemes to defend the project following widespread exposure of its negative impacts on social media.

According to Gabriel Magtibay, national chairperson of the LFS, the youth and the public should not be deceived by the promises of job creation and development promoted by the ESZ and Pax Silica. “We must expose that Pax Silica will allow the US to destroy and seize Philippines lands, and data centers to poison the water,” Magtibay said.

LFS said it will sustain protests against Pax Silica and will highlight it in the Bayan SONA demonstration on July 27, alongside the fifth state of the nation address of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The LFS stated that their protests against Pax Silica will continue, making it one of the key issues they will highlight during the upcoming “SONA ng Bayan” demonstration on July 27, coinciding with the fifth State of the Nation Address of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “As the youth, we must struggle for genuine freedom and democracy,” Magtibay said.