Divisive response
The planned Pax Silica initiative, a 4,000-acre industrial hub focused on technology and manufacturing centers within the LEC in New Clark City, has drawn a divisive response from Filipinos after the Philippines joined the US-led initiative in April.
Left-wing groups have raised concerns over the project’s potential environmental risks, as well as the possible exploitation of Filipino labor and assets.
The government, meanwhile, has upheld the project’s viability as a means of upgrading technology-oriented manufacturing and exports while capturing a share of the global artificial intelligence (AI) race.
Jeffries likewise backed the initiative’s potential to create more jobs and attract more FDI, which dropped 23.8 percent in the first quarter.
“That initiative [Pax Silica] and others like the Luzon Economic Corridor [LEC], more broadly, are meant to bring specific and higher value-add foreign direct investment into the country. So it would be a positive for job creation and growth, but it’s not immediate. There would be a lag,” Jeffries said.
Pax Silica is targeted for a November signing. Trade Undersecretary Perry Rodolfo said at a forum last Tuesday that the noise surrounding the country’s potential participation may have resulted in apprehension among some investors abroad.
