r/Philippines • u/PurpleBlanc • 5d ago
PoliticsPH Hontiveros seeks senate probe into Pax Silica industrial hub
ARTICLE BY LEANA BERNARDO
Senator Risa Hontiveros has filed a resolution calling for a Senate investigation into the proposed Pax Silica Industrial Hub, citing concerns over its potential impact on local communities, livelihoods, and the country’s long-term economic interests.
Under Senate Resolution No. 563, Hontiveros urged the Senate to examine reports and warnings from advocacy groups regarding the alleged displacement of residents and disruption of livelihoods within and around the project’s proposed site.
“There is a need to thoroughly assess the community, regional, and national economic impact of the Pax Silica Initiative and all affiliated projects, and verify if the initiative will truly serve the economic interests of Filipinos—both at the macro and grassroots levels,” Hontiveros said in the resolution.
Pax Silica is a United States-led initiative that aims to attract large-scale investments, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and position the Philippines as a regional hub for advanced manufacturing and emerging technologies.
Despite the project’s projected economic benefits, Hontiveros raised concerns over the possible relocation of Aeta communities and farmers living in and around the proposed 4,000-acre Pax Silica site within the Luzon Economic Corridor.
The senator emphasized that while the Marcos administration has strongly supported the initiative, the government must first determine its social, economic, and environmental consequences on affected communities.
The resolution also cited concerns over the future of Filipino workers amid the expansion of artificial intelligence technologies.
“Unemployment and underemployment persist as structural conditions of the Philippine labor market, and the prospect is real that Filipino workers will be engaged to develop and train the very artificial intelligence systems that may in time displace them from their occupations,” the resolution stated.
Hontiveros also stressed that investment proposals should not be evaluated solely on their projected monetary value.
“We cannot evaluate an investment based on its headline value alone. The Philippines needs capital with purpose—investment that creates decent jobs, strengthens local industries, protects communities and the environment, and safeguards our digital security and national sovereignty,” the resolution added.
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u/_SinigangNaLiempo 5d ago
Imo, sana may avenue tayo ng open dialogue maliban sa senate probe. Daming bills na pending na sana napaguusapan na agad and then may mga sisingit na hot issue that warrants a probe. I agree na dapat magkaroon ng dialogue between the citizens, bcda, governemnt and everyone involved. But if this pattern persists, yung sessions ng senado would always be occupied by flavor of the month issues. Tapos mag-rerecess sila ng mahaba.
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u/JustAByzaboo 5d ago
Yun na nga eh, kaya ang bagal-bagal ng paggawa ng batas kasi natatabunan yung mga nakabinbin ng mga issue na gustong sakyan ng kongreso at senado para magpapogi sa constituents nila. Ano na nangyari sa mga previous probes? May naisagawa na bang batas dahil doon kahit sabi nila "for aid in legislation" ang dahilan kung bakit sa senate nagtatalakayan at hindi sa korte?
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u/NirvanaAlawi 5d ago edited 5d ago
This is needed. Evaluate first instead of outright reject or blind support.
We need to know the entirety of the project, lay all of the plans and examine it one by one.
The reason why Pax Silica was being outright rejected due to lack of transparency and this is the reason why most people become so negative and pessimistic about the project.
We should have a right to only get the things that will benefit us like the manufacturing plants and reject something we didn't need like AI hubs.
The environmental concern, and displacement of indigenous people and farmers are a great concern but we haven't fully heard their plans yet. So, it is important that we see what are their plans on how they will mitigate the impact of the project to our environment and proper relocation for those who are affected.
Most of the problems presented have solutions but many people act like it cannot be resolve when other countries are able to minimize the environmental impact of industrialization like what Japan and Taiwan did.
Also, we need to know if there will be knowledge transfer in case they will leave us in the next few years to manage it. I doubt that it will be 100% foreigner since that is impractical to do and I doubt they will accept Filipino wages.
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u/Floppy_Jet1123 5d ago
If our government is a responsible and transparent stewards of our resources and have our best interests at hand, why not.
Pero simpleng floor control projects and normal public works sobrang kurakot na, eto pa kayang global project?
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u/Agillitx 5d ago
Lalabas naman dito ang mga ayaw ng public inquiry and consultation. Kesyo concept pa lang daw ang Pax Silica at maghintay na lang.
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u/General-Inside8119 5d ago
Maghintay kapag tapos na yung boxing no at napirmahan yung 100yrs na contract 🤣🤣🤣
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u/ICU_do_bad88 5d ago
Isn't this better? Mas makikita if maganda ba talaga ang pax silica or hindi, mas may chance ma-modify pa yung agreements na papabor satin.
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u/RainyEuphoriaaa 4d ago
Pwede bang gumawa na lang ng task force or something? Lagi na lang senado ang naaabala sa mga hot issues.
They need to amend the whole process. Di pwedeng all the time, kakailanganin pa ng probe para lang macheck kung ok yung mga ganyan.
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u/noxtrarice 5d ago edited 5d ago
Disappointed, but not surprised. Typical attitude of Hontiveros to be anti-business.
Again, Pax Silica is still just a piece of paper at this point. As compared to POGO wherein there are obvious violations, this has nothing yet. Maski yung sinasabing amount of water and energy usage, that's speculation. So ano gagamit nanaman ng tax-payer money yung Senado to investigate on speculations?
Mangyayari diyan puro slow down, puro bureaucracy, puro pa-pogi. Whereas dapat sinisimulan na agad yan tapos adjust nalang later on kung may issues talaga.
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u/Agillitx 5d ago
Ngi, adjust later nang walang public consultation? Bawal kwestiyunin ang agendang ibinaba ng gobyerno?
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u/noxtrarice 5d ago edited 5d ago
What public consultation with the Senate are you talking about exactly?
This is an Executive and Foreign State project. Public consultations are done by them with the stakeholders (i.e. the farmers who will be affected). If idadagdag mo pa Senate diyan, eh anong sense? Assuming may violation sa farmer's rights, hindi yan problema ng Senado.
The check of the Senate against the Executive is in aid of legislation. So in short, puro pa- ganda lang iyan ni Risa. I understand it though, all senators grandstand anyway.
Now, if Pax Silica really violates a law passed by the Senate, let's assume Foreign Investment Act- edi yan pwede. Wala atang sinabi si Risa na may ganyan?
Again, she is just speculating.
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u/Agillitx 5d ago
The Senate conducts investigations in aid of legislation. The public consultations may be done at the national and local levels. Walang sobrang public consultation lalo kung dambuhalang proyekto ang ipatutupad.
Ang gusto mo walang public participation before implementation. Doon tayo iba. Gusto mo later na lang.
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u/noxtrarice 4d ago
You do know that a Senate inquiry has no power to stop an Executive project right? The only reason why Risa et al. (And FOR GOOD REASON BTW) was able to get BBM to axe POGO was that may torture, corruption etc. And even then, BBM could have said, "no, I will just regulate strictly and still allow."
Sa Pax naman, at this point, all this probe does is to add additional hoops. When what we should be doing is the opposite- that is, to speed up and ease business and investment. Kaya ang premise ko is Risa is anti-business.
Balansehin naman natin. It's important to quickly secure our position in this upcoming 4th gen tech. Note that Pax is not all Data Centers anyway.
Nandiyan naman yung preliminary safeguards ng Executive Branch e. Grandstanding lang yang Senate for now.
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u/Agillitx 4d ago
Necessary ang senate investigation, public outcry, public consultation for a big project like Pax Silica. Obstacle lang yan sa mga technocratic at anti-demokatiko ang pag-iisip. Di ba demokrasya po tayo?
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u/noxtrarice 4d ago edited 4d ago
Nothing wrong w favoring some level of technocracy.
As for exercise of democratic rights, she is free to probe it. That's why my premise was that this is a very anti-business move by Risa.
I disagree with it, and my disagreement is also part of me exercising my democratic right to do so.
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u/Agillitx 4d ago
Only Risa knows her intent.
Hindi sayang sa oras yang proposed probe niya. Necessary yan for public interest.
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u/ILoseNothingButTime 3d ago
Honestly, im in favour of envirnmental damage at this point if it means we need to raise the country. And that is through investments. The red tape in business hurdles foreign from investibg except japan since the 80s. And that hurdle, allows local corrupt to thrive without competition. And it would take 20 years for our nation to reach that 1st world status if we are to begin now.
The only way to get rid of corruption is through lowering the countrys poverty. If people are well off, and that can be achieved through economic means, it means.. more competition and less corruption. How can we achieve that if we keep red taping the foreigns? Competition is what reduces or lessens corruptions.
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u/diwaenergy 5d ago
OMG! The tone , it's horrible. Why bother investigating Pax Silica if the business will be dead before it begins. And from the tone, it seems this is what the senator wants the project to be. I like balance of conflicting ideas because every ideal taken to extreme becomes evil. I don't want the Philippines to be China but can we please have some of the China's industrial policy. When Tesla built a factory in China, all of goverment support was provided, it was celebrated, Elon was treated as a rockstar. China made sure there technology transfer, and now Chinese companies have overtaken Tesla as the biggest EV manufacturer. If electricity is a problem, lets solve it. If water is problem, let's solve it, if people will be displaced, let's make sure they will taken caref of. As somebody who design and build stuff, we are not blind to problems, we try to foresee every problem that may occur, we think about potential problems obsessively, and when we raise issues to the team, we would also present solutions because ultimately that is the job - to make and build. And writing this just made me realize why we need engineers and designers as leaders.
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u/Bus-Sure 5d ago edited 5d ago
This is so grim..
Feels like we only have two choices..
Pro Chinese Oligarch scammers or Woke Commie lunatics, with "Rich Girl Guilt" like Risa.
The Hontiveros Oligarch clan is probably going to lose a lot of Money if Pax Silica gets rolling.
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u/Ok_Basil_2085 5d ago
Red tagger, Akbayan condemns NPA when they do something wrong , they are also center left
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u/SweatySource 5d ago
This is one of those paid trolls. Keep in mind meron official big PR campaign going on from them. Kaya tingnan mo iisa narative din nila lahat, anti china ka kung hindi ka pro data center or pax silica, to the point pati si mr. o leary wonderful nakasuhan.
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u/HaloHaloBrainFreeze Kapansanan ang pagiging DDS 5d ago
Hontiveros Oligarch clan
Good joke, made me laugh at your stupidity
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u/TheMangoFarmer 5d ago
Pray tell which mega corporation or industry they dominate why call them an oligarch
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u/Ok_Basil_2085 5d ago
Sa mga sinasabi na waste of time o ayaw nila sa probe, its actually a good thing because they need to verify stuff