OLD JAFFA, Israel — Former Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss said the country should not be left behind in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution being presented by the United States-led Pax Silica Initiative.

“You don’t want to be left behind. If you don’t want to be left behind, be in front. Be the leader,” Fluss said during his conversation with the Philippine media delegation in Jerusalem on 8 August.

This is as Fluss expressed support for the Pax Silica initiative as a potential investment opportunity for the Philippines, subject to appropriate environmental and regulatory safeguards.

Fluss said the initiative presents an opportunity for the Philippines to stay ahead of the curve in AI development.

“We look at the Pax Silica [initiative] as a great opportunity for moving forward. We started it ourselves,” he said.

Pax Silica is a US-led initiative aimed at securing allied supply chains for critical minerals, semiconductors, AI and advanced manufacturing, with Israel as a founding member contributing technological expertise.

The Philippines officially joined the initiative in 2026 via a non-binding agreement, with the government announcing plans for a roughly 1,620-hectare industrial hub in New Clark City focused on AI, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and mineral processing.

The Marcos administration remains optimistic about the potential for major investments and the creation of direct and indirect jobs.

However, critics have raised concerns about environmental and water pressures, potential displacement, resource extraction, limited technology transfer, and continued reliance on low-cost Filipino labor.

They have also questioned the initiative’s geopolitical implications and potential dual-use military applications.

Environmental safeguards a must

Fluss, who currently serves as policy coordinator for the Emerging and Disruptive Technologies Strategic Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, acknowledged that environmental and regulatory safeguards are necessary to prevent negative spillover effects.

“Minerals are very important in modern technology, and this is why they’re called today the critical minerals, and there is a global shortage. So, we need to create a value chain of critical minerals accessible to make sure that the economy and technology can continue to develop and to grow,” he said.

“We want to work with countries in bringing and working together in developing modern technologies that will help us in extracting the minerals smartly and environmentally,” he added.

Fluss likewise said the Pax Silica initiative would allow member nations, including the Philippines, to develop stronger ties — a sentiment Philippine Ambassador to Israel Eileen Mendoza echoed, describing the initiative as “a very good opportunity for the Philippines.”

“The opportunity there is to bring investments, to bring jobs to the Philippines, to have input in our critical minerals sector, all of it,” Mendoza told reporters in Tel Aviv last Monday.

“For me, it’s a business opportunity that I know that the Board of Investments (BoI) or the Department of Trade and Industry is working very hard to bring back manufacturing into the Philippines,” the Philippine Ambassador added.

Senate hearing

During a Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change last Friday, BoI managing head and Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo told lawmakers that the proposed Pax Silica tech hub inside the New Clark City is not meant to produce data centers, but manufacturing sites of components that go into the data center.

BCDA president and CEO Engr. Joshua Bingcang, for his part, maintained that no indigenous peoples will be displaced as the Pax Silica technology hub is inside a buildable zone of lands, which have long been acquired by the BCDA.

In terms of environmental concerns, Bingcang said it will use rainwater harvesting technology and will not compete with the water requirements of Tarlac and neighboring provinces’ needs, a similar approach done in BGC, Taguig, as water is abundant in Tarlac during monsoon and typhoon seasons.

Bingcang earlier stressed that no hyperscale data center will be built in New Clark City, as it cannot serve its power requirement because it is outside the Luzon Grid; therefore, it will not compete on the power requirement of that particular region.