PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assured the public that the government will be culturally sensitive to concerns of displacement caused by the Pax Silica initiative.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, The Manila Times asked Marcos about concerns of Capas, Mayor Boots Rodriguez, that local communities might be displaced because of the planned 4,000-hectare AI hub and concerns that ancestral burial grounds might be disturbed.
“We are very sensitive to that. That’s not something that people should worry about. We are very sensitive about such cultural concerns, and those are very much part of the discussions,” said Marcos.
When asked about livelihood concerns on the project, Marcos said that is the opposite of what the Pax Silica initiative is designed to do.
“I cannot see how such a development will endanger local livelihood. I’m not sure I understand the question simply because this is quite big; this is projected to create tens of thousands of jobs,” he said.
The chief executive is keen on positioning the country in the digital economy, as the artificial intelligence (AI) industry takes center stage.
“If you would look at what we did as chair of Asean, one of the things that we did as the chair of Asean was to define the roadmap for Asean for AI. But that was even before the whole idea of Pax Silica emerged,” he said.
“And so, it’s quite the opposite. It should have exactly the opposite effect on what you were asking about,” he added.
Malacañang earlier said that the Bases Conversion and Development Authority has submitted the legal framework for the proposed Pax Silica initiative to the Office of the President.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said negotiations are still being finalized about the specific provisions for the agreement.
