Reject Pax Silica, and promote the national democratic alternative!

NDFP International Office
September 12, 2026

The US-Marcos regime wants Filipinos to believe that Pax Silica will “bring quality jobs to our people, accelerate industrial competitiveness and revitalize the economy” of the country. But the Filipino masses know better. They have heard these promises of “development,” “more jobs” and “modernization” countless times before, only to see the country’s land, labor and resources handed over to US monopoly interests. 

Pax Silica is a product of the intensifying competition between the United States and China for control over the technologies, resources and supply chains that underpin artificial intelligence (AI). Over the past several decades, China has bult a dominant position in critical mining extraction and processing, manufacturing and digital infrastructure. Through massive investments in its own industrial capacity, technological research and development, and projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Digital Silk Road, China has secured a major role in the production and refinement of many of the minerals, components and infrastructure necessary for semiconductors and AI development.

The US in turn has responded through trade wars, sanctions, military alliances and investments aimed at rebuilding and securing AI-related supply chains under its existing sphere of influence. Pax Silica is therefore tied not simply to the economic interests of the US, but also to its military objectives including war preparations in Asia Pacific.

This competition is ultimately a struggle over who controls the production chain behind next generation AI technologies. Both imperialist powers are racing to secure sources of minerals, energy, manufacturing capacity, technology and skilled labor – and the Philippines, with its vast mineral resources, energy potential, strategic location in Asia Pacific and its large army of reserve labor is being positioned as one key link in that chain. But for the Filipino people, this means being dragged deeper into the US warmongering orbit while remaining trapped in the same conditions of poverty and landlessness that have long characterized the country’s backward economy.

Indeed, under the current semicolonial and semifeudal order, the Philippines cannot build a self-sufficient and prosperous economy by serving as host to foreign data centers and technology corporations especially while its farmers remain landless, its industries remain backward, and millions of workers are forced to seek jobs abroad due to the absence of any real opportunity at home. Far from being a “solution” to the country’s underdevelopment, Pax Silica is in fact, a symptom of it. 

Pax Silica is not designed to build an independent national economy. It is designed to serve the needs of US war preparations against China as well as the needs of US tech monopolies ever-eager to exploit the country’s cheap labor, land and resources. Like the currently widespread export processing zones, labor enclaves, and other foreign-dominated “development” schemes before it, Pax Silica promises jobs and modernization while concentrating wealth in the hands of landlords and big comprador bourgeoisie while leaving the country’s backward economic structure fully intact. 

Instead of building the country’s own capacity in engineering, science, technology, manufacturing and agricultural production, successive reactionary governments have pushed young Filipinos toward an economy where their education and skills serve US imperialist interests or where they are forced to leave the country as cheap labor. Filipino youth should not be trained to become a reserve pool of workers for foreign corporations. They should be given the opportunity to use their knowledge and skills to build industries, develop agricultural technology, strengthen public services and advance a genuinely self-reliant Philippine economy.

The rising opposition against Pax Silica therefore demonstrates the urgent necessity of pursuing the national democratic path of development. The Philippines cannot achieve genuine economic development without addressing its unresolved agrarian and industrial problems that have kept the country backward and dependent for generations. These problems are rooted in the domination of US imperialism which continue to preserve a semicolonial and semifeudal economy in the interest of keeping its control over the Philippines’ vast resources and its strategic location in Asia Pacific.

Genuine development begins with comprehensive agrarian reform. Land must be distributed to those who till it. Feudal and semi-feudal exploitation in the countryside must be eradicated in all its forms. Agricultural production must be modernized through sufficient state support, irrigation, research, and rural infrastructure. By raising productivity and ensuring land ownership for the peasantry, agrarian reform lays the foundation for genuine national economic growth. On the basis of a strong agricultural output, light industries must be established that will address the people’s needs. 

At the same time, the country must undertake national industrialization. Instead of relying on US imperialism to determine the direction of economic development, the country must build industries capable of producing machinery, steel, chemicals, electronics,  communications and transportation equipment, and other strategic goods needed for self-reliant and sustainable growth. Industrialization should be directed toward meeting domestic needs, creating stable employment and living wages for workers, developing scientific and technological capabilities, and breaking dependence on imported manufactured products. 

Pursuing the national democratic alternative requires the advance and victory of the people’s democratic revolution. The challenge before the Filipino people is therefore not merely to oppose Pax Silica, but to advance an alternative path to development that is rooted in upholding national sovereignty, economic self-reliance, and the liberation of the oppressed and exploited classes in Philippine society. Only through this path can the country’s vast human and natural resources be utilized for the benefit of the many rather than for the profit of a few.