FIRST time out, we called, it’s high time President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was stopped in his binge of ceding Philippine territory. That was in connection with the Pax Silica Initiative announced as having been launched by the United States and the Philippines. The announcement was made in a directive by US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg on April 16, 2026. The directive dealt no longer with the proposed features of the project but already with its various implementing aspects.
In brief, Pax Silica is a fait accompli.
There was nothing more any opposition to the project could do to stop it.
So, of what use was the previous column’s call to stop the president from proceeding with the idea when it was a done deal? That was how cleverly the United States had worked out one more decimation in its favor of the Philippines’ sovereignty and national integrity. It began with the cession to America of the initial five so-called sites as provided by the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) of 2016, added with four more at the onset of the Marcos Jr. administration in 2022.
Those so-called EDCA sites are actually US military bases right inside camps of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, operating with extraterritoriality, completely out of jurisdiction of the Philippine republic.
This column will not tire of exposing what could amount to a treasonous surrender to America of Philippine patrimony and national integrity.
Hence this elaboration on the Pax Silica Initiative.
Why has there been no noise on the idea whatsoever? As if there were no Filipino people whose lives would be at peril once the project got going.
Two thousand hectares in a premium spot of Tarlac under total political and whatever else exploitative practices of America in the area ceded to it by the Philippines for a period of 99 years.
That’s how long the Philippines in that area of 2,000 hectares will necessarily have to die.
What amount of resuscitation could the Philippines still undergo after that century of wanton American exploitation? As of today, no Filipino can tell.
No mention whatsoever has been made of the natural resources contained in the area, the richness in minerals, for instance.
For one, is there oil there? Let’s not lose sight of the fact that America never tires of annexing territories by means fair or foul in order to maintain its world oil control.
Look what it has done to Venezuela and what it is doing to Iran now? What opposition to Pax Silica has been doing is match tit-for-tat the arguments of its American ideators. That’s a dangerous approach. Those arguments are all matters of paper work, theoretical outputs that are undeniably in the realm of the superstructure, nothing concrete. Argue at this level and you fall right into the American trap — where you quibble about something only on paper, so whatever success you seem to achieve in the exchange of arguments is nothing but scraps of paper indeed, nothing concrete, nothing material, nothing real.
Meantime, the goodie ole American dream of annexing territory upon territory of the Philippines is totally achieved.
The one single idea that genuine Philippine oppositors to Pax Silica must entertain is: Stop the scheme at all costs.
Any arguments against US-advanced litany of advantages for host country Philippines are arguments against windmills of your minds.
They don’t exist in reality, not achievable in reality.
Assertions hinging on learned political and economic theories are advanced such that the issue is being debated on a misplaced basis rather than on real imperatives. Theories, to begin with, are in the realm of the superstructure where truth is sought through mental calisthenics rather than through concrete manifestations. Truth or falsity in debates is had through sheer force of logic, with nary a regard for objective reality. In all cases, truth becomes a question of what the argument lives up to, not what reality demands. In so doing, Philippine opposition to Pax Silica falls right into the American trap.
What only matters at the moment is: Will the Philippines cede its territory to America one more time? Definitely, no more — if this column were to be asked.
So, what is to be done? One option is legalese.
Petitions could be lodged at the Supreme Court questioning the legality of President Marcos’ all too secretive maneuvers in the Pax Silica deal to the extent that it was already in effective operation before the Filipino people could take any counteraction whatsoever.
Article I (National Territory) and Article II, Section 7 (State Policies) of the 1987 Constitution protect the indivisibility of the national territory.
The Philippines is an integrated unit, one and indivisible.
This means that — as Marcos quite hypocritically proclaimed in his inaugural speech — not even a square inch of its territory may be torn off from the Philippines by whatever means.
It is a constitutional provision, never to be violated else you shatter the country’s very reason for existence.
But with Pax Silica, as per announcement by US Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Helberg, it appears the Philippines’ constitution had been wantonly violated.
How ever had this been possible? Although the Constitution stipulates that the president may enter into executive agreements with other countries, such agreement, from what this column knows, is subject to a two-thirds vote of concurrence of the Philippine Senate.
Has there been such Senate concurrence? Evidently there has been none.
So, reckoning the issue from the standpoint of the venerated principle of checks and balances, a Supreme Court ruling can still cure the malady.
Article II, Section 7 (Declaration of Principles) dictates that in international relations, the state must uphold territorial integrity, sovereignty and national interest.
Nationalist groups, like the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI), can take the matter to the Supreme Court and seek a ruling on the propriety and legality of President Marcos’ action on Pax Silica.
Otherwise, invoke Article II, Section 3 (Protection of Integrity) of the Constitution which states that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is the protector of the people and the state, with the goal to secure the integrity of the national territory.
These provisions must sufficiently ensure “muscle” for the needed people’s uprising as that of EDSA 1986.
FIRST time out, we called, it’s high time President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was stopped in his binge of ceding Philippine territory. That was in connection with the Pax Silica Initiative announced as having been launched by the United States and the Philippines. The announcement was made in a directive by US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg on April 16, 2026. The directive dealt no longer with the proposed features of the project but already with its various implementing aspects.
In brief, Pax Silica is a fait accompli.
There was nothing more any opposition to the project could do to stop it.
So, of what use was the previous column’s call to stop the president from proceeding with the idea when it was a done deal? That was how cleverly the United States had worked out one more decimation in its favor of the Philippines’ sovereignty and national integrity. It began with the cession to America of the initial five so-called sites as provided by the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) of 2016, added with four more at the onset of the Marcos Jr. administration in 2022.
Those so-called EDCA sites are actually US military bases right inside camps of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, operating with extraterritoriality, completely out of jurisdiction of the Philippine republic.
This column will not tire of exposing what could amount to a treasonous surrender to America of Philippine patrimony and national integrity.
Hence this elaboration on the Pax Silica Initiative.
Why has there been no noise on the idea whatsoever? As if there were no Filipino people whose lives would be at peril once the project got going.
Two thousand hectares in a premium spot of Tarlac under total political and whatever else exploitative practices of America in the area ceded to it by the Philippines for a period of 99 years.
That’s how long the Philippines in that area of 2,000 hectares will necessarily have to die.
What amount of resuscitation could the Philippines still undergo after that century of wanton American exploitation? As of today, no Filipino can tell.
No mention whatsoever has been made of the natural resources contained in the area, the richness in minerals, for instance.
For one, is there oil there? Let’s not lose sight of the fact that America never tires of annexing territories by means fair or foul in order to maintain its world oil control.
Look what it has done to Venezuela and what it is doing to Iran now? What opposition to Pax Silica has been doing is match tit-for-tat the arguments of its American ideators. That’s a dangerous approach. Those arguments are all matters of paper work, theoretical outputs that are undeniably in the realm of the superstructure, nothing concrete. Argue at this level and you fall right into the American trap — where you quibble about something only on paper, so whatever success you seem to achieve in the exchange of arguments is nothing but scraps of paper indeed, nothing concrete, nothing material, nothing real.
Meantime, the goodie ole American dream of annexing territory upon territory of the Philippines is totally achieved.
The one single idea that genuine Philippine oppositors to Pax Silica must entertain is: Stop the scheme at all costs.
Any arguments against US-advanced litany of advantages for host country Philippines are arguments against windmills of your minds.
They don’t exist in reality, not achievable in reality.
Assertions hinging on learned political and economic theories are advanced such that the issue is being debated on a misplaced basis rather than on real imperatives. Theories, to begin with, are in the realm of the superstructure where truth is sought through mental calisthenics rather than through concrete manifestations. Truth or falsity in debates is had through sheer force of logic, with nary a regard for objective reality. In all cases, truth becomes a question of what the argument lives up to, not what reality demands. In so doing, Philippine opposition to Pax Silica falls right into the American trap.
What only matters at the moment is: Will the Philippines cede its territory to America one more time? Definitely, no more — if this column were to be asked.
So, what is to be done? One option is legalese.
Petitions could be lodged at the Supreme Court questioning the legality of President Marcos’ all too secretive maneuvers in the Pax Silica deal to the extent that it was already in effective operation before the Filipino people could take any counteraction whatsoever.
Article I (National Territory) and Article II, Section 7 (State Policies) of the 1987 Constitution protect the indivisibility of the national territory.
The Philippines is an integrated unit, one and indivisible.
This means that — as Marcos quite hypocritically proclaimed in his inaugural speech — not even a square inch of its territory may be torn off from the Philippines by whatever means.
It is a constitutional provision, never to be violated else you shatter the country’s very reason for existence.
But with Pax Silica, as per announcement by US Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Helberg, it appears the Philippines’ constitution had been wantonly violated.
How ever had this been possible? Although the Constitution stipulates that the president may enter into executive agreements with other countries, such agreement, from what this column knows, is subject to a two-thirds vote of concurrence of the Philippine Senate.
Has there been such Senate concurrence? Evidently there has been none.
So, reckoning the issue from the standpoint of the venerated principle of checks and balances, a Supreme Court ruling can still cure the malady.
Article II, Section 7 (Declaration of Principles) dictates that in international relations, the state must uphold territorial integrity, sovereignty and national interest.
Nationalist groups, like the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI), can take the matter to the Supreme Court and seek a ruling on the propriety and legality of President Marcos’ action on Pax Silica.
Otherwise, invoke Article II, Section 3 (Protection of Integrity) of the Constitution which states that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is the protector of the people and the state, with the goal to secure the integrity of the national territory.
These provisions must sufficiently ensure “muscle” for the needed people’s uprising as that of EDSA 1986.
