Legal protections and diplomatic immunity for American investors were proposed by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg during his 18 May visit to the planned mega artificial intelligence (AI) hub in New Clark City.

According to Helberg, the proposal aims to encourage American companies to invest in the “AI-native industrial acceleration hub” under the Pax Silica initiative.

The proposed measures would provide investors with assurance that their capital would remain protected despite possible changes in the administrations of both countries.

“There needs to be an element of durability and certainty. And so that’s where, you know, our focus is really going to be on predictability, certainty, speed, and scale,” Helberg said.

One of the measures being negotiated is the designation of the industrial hub as diplomatic property, similar to the way embassies are governed.

Under the proposal, the site would operate under US common law despite being located on Philippine soil, including protections similar to diplomatic immunity.

Joshua Bingcang, president and chief executive officer of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), said the United States had already requested such a scheme during negotiations for the economic security zone, which the Philippine government outright rejected.

Bingcang said the industrial hub would only be subject to two domestic policies — the Investors’ Lease Act and the law granting powers to the BCDA.

He added that going beyond the agency’s mandate would violate Philippine law and could place the ambitious project at risk of being scrapped.

“It will be treated as a regular business development contract, with no special arrangement to be accorded to the US government,” the BCDA chief stressed.