By Billy Begas
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) clarified that the projects under the Pax Silica partnership will not all be located in New Clark City.
During Monday’s hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations on the proposed P6.7 billion budget for DTI next year, House Deputy Minority Leader and Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña asked about the Pax Silica partnership.
DTI Secretary Cristina Roque said the Pax Silica project is one of many ecozones the government plans to build in the country.
DTI Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo noted that all the signed documents related to the Pax Silica partnership were uploaded to the Board of Investigation (BOI) website in April for transparency.
“Lahat ho ng mga dokumento that we have signed that we have transmitted to the US, that they have transmitted to us, yun hong mga signed documents natin as nasa BOI website as early as April 25,” Rodolfo said.
“So, pinost na ho natin yan dun in the spirit of transparency para makita din ho ng ating mga kababayan. Meron din ho tayong mga short video clips about what Pax Silica is at ano po yung project doon sa New Clark City,” he added.
Rodolfo stressed the need to differentiate the Pax Silica partnership and the projects under it.
“Kasi ho nagkakalituhan talaga, pag pinag-uusapan yung Pax Silica akala nila yun na ho yung ginagawa natin sa New Clark City, yun na ho yung buong Pax Silica. We have to distinguish between the partnership and the project,” he said.
Rodolfo explained that Pax Silica is “a partnership, is actually a non-binding statement or declaration that we have signed unto together with 23 other countries and an economy. It’s really for securing the supply chain for your AI tech ecosystem.”
“Ang sinasabi ho nila dito ay if the past century was run on oil and steel, this new century will run on compute capacity. And it is about securing the entire supply chain from mining minerals to advanced manufacturing to data centers to the software that takes advantage of this compute capacity so the whole supply chain po yun,” he added.
Rodolfo said the project that will be put up in the New Clark City under the Pax Silica partnership is not an AI data center but an advanced manufacturing hub.
“Pagdating ho dito sa ating project, yung New Clark City po is just one of the projects na pino-push ho ng Pilipinas at tsaka isang partner country doon sa Pax Silica. This is just one of the projects. And this project will focus on advanced manufacturing,” Rodolfo said.
“Ang gagawin ho sa New Clark City is really for advanced manufacturing. So this will be for the equipment that will go into AI data centers, but the AI data centers themselves will not be in New Clark City,” he added.
Rodolfo noted that the government will not spend any public funds on the development of the Pax Silica project.
“Ang usapan naman ho natin dito, ang basic condition po doon sa magde-develop ng New Clark City… you have to build your own roads, bring your own power, and then secure and reuse your own water,” he said.
“And isang project lang po yun. Yung whole stock ng AI po, mag-uusap pa ho tayo ng ibang possible locations for those other areas. Halimbawa po, pag pinag-usapan natin data center, it may happen in another location na mas appropriate for data center. Ibig sabihin, mas available yung tubig, mas available yung power. But again, bring your own power, secure and reuse your own water, and build your own roads,” the DTI official added.
Rodolfo said that the DTI spoke with a local government unit in the National Capital Region last week about the possible development of an IC design national hub. He said the project would be undertaken by a partner country in the Pax Silica partnership, and it is not the United States.
