“I WILL not cede even a square inch of Philippine territory!”
The quote serves as an appropriate apropos for starting this navigation into President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s binge of ceding to America hectare upon hectare of Philippine sovereignty and territorial integrity.
An archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, the Philippines’ total land area is estimated at 30 million hectares. A large hectarage of that area (corresponding to nine camps of the Armed Forces of the Philippines) has already been ceded to America by virtue of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
So, it is with great irony that one throws back to what sounded as grit and resolve with which, in delivering his inaugural address, President Marcos swore to defend Philippine territory against foreign incursion.
How valiantly he spoke, voice quivering with fervor which in that hour succeeded at piercing the hearts of his multitudes of listeners.
As all inaugurals go, Bongbong’s pulsated with utter hope for uplift by a nation struggling to rise from the past administration’s record of widespread killer pandemic and murderous war on illegal drugs.
Alas, but only a few months after, Bongbong was into good ole American crooning.
That was what Bongbong virtually did by way of entertaining then-United States vice president Kamala Harris, who visited Malacañang and eventually Palawan in November following Bongbong’s inauguration on June 30, 2022. In a farewell tete-a-tete with the president, Kamala appeared tickled when Bongbong remarked that he was sure Kamala would not be going to Palawan for the beaches. Bongbong’s insinuation was that Kamala would be seeing for herself one of the four additional sites ceded to America under the EDCA: the Balabac Island in Palawan, ceded to America together with Camp Melchor de la Cruz in Gamu, Isabela, and the La-lo Airport and Camilo Osias Naval Base in La-lo, Cagayan.
Understandably, China raged at the development. It was immediately evident in the cases of the additional sites in Northern Luzon — Camp Melchor de la Cruz, La-lo Airport and Camilo Osias Naval Base — that these were primarily targeting China, being less than 200 kilometers away. All the more Chinese protests became strong when it was reported that installed on the sites were the Typhon medium-range missile launch system capable of hitting the China mainland. The one in Balabac Island was face-to-face with Chinese forward military bases in the South China Sea.
All told, for all of his resounding rhetoric in “not ceding a square inch of Philippine territory,” what Bongbong actually did was give away not just square inches but square kilometers of premium land to the US from the very start of his administration.
For all intents and purposes, those EDCA sites are America’s own. By the terms of the treaty, any US deployment of men and material in those sites are not subject to inspection by Philippine authorities, thereby according the US military extra-territoriality, as if those sites were really America’s own.
America does not even pay anything as it used to under the 1947 Military Bases Agreement. The treaty not only required rentals by the US for use of those bases but also had those rentals increased every five years as worked out by the late president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Worse, whatever infrastructure built by the US in those sites will have to be paid for by the Philippine government once America leaves those sites, if at all.
All the above — to drive home the irony of the Philippines about to be made to suffer one more grand decimation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
On April 16, 2026, US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg announced plans of the US and the Philippines to establish a 2,000-hectare “industrial hub to secure inputs vital to American and global supply chains.”
Located in the Luzon Economic Corridor, the site is being designated by the Philippines as an Economic Security Zone, said to be a new model for artificial intelligence (AI)-native investment acceleration hubs developed under the Pax Silica Initiative.
Before getting drowned in the nitty-gritty of the idea, readers are advised to remember just one thing: the Pax Silica Initiative is a US idea. As such it must be imbued with all-known versions of cunning, subterfuge and deceptive maneuvers known to characterize most every American effort at building international economic alliances.
Note this come-on for the Philippines in the Helberg directive: “The Economic Security Zone is expected to be a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing — an investment acceleration hub where specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand, host country comparative advantages and the evolving needs of the Allied network. Situated in the Luzon Economic Corridor, the Zone can leverage the Philippines’ geographical centrality in the Indo-Pacific, its young, energetic and technically skilled workforce, and its deepening alliance with the United States.”
It is this emphasis on the “deepening alliance with the United States” that must breed all the worries in this Pax Silica agenda. World events show that alliance with America always works to its advantage alone.
To begin with, why require the Philippines to dispense with its 2,000-hectare territory for a period of 99 years?
That’s how long it took Great Britain to hold on to Hong Kong beginning in 1898. But that was at the flowering of Western colonialism when through legalistic guises (the Treaty of Nanking of 1841), Western colonizers had a heyday subjugating Asian territories. We’re into the 21st century when colonialism is not supposed to flourish any longer, yet here we have the US persevering in the same old colonialist tactics, albeit in disguise.
Here is how one internet account puts the idea: “The Pax Silica Initiative is a US-led, international coalition launched in December 2025 to secure and diversify supply chains for semiconductors, AI infrastructure and critical minerals. Aimed at reducing reliance on, or bypassing, China-centric chains, it fosters a ‘positive-sum’ partnership among trusted allies [including the Philippines, Japan and India] to build ‘AI-native’ industrial hubs and high-tech infrastructure.”
That, of course, is on the innocent reckoning of economic gains. But underneath such a facade is the monstrous-hidden agenda for America. All throughout the projected 99-year tenure of Pax Silica, it completely detaches itself from Philippine sovereignty such that none whatsoever of Philippine laws will be applicable to all aspects of its being. As a cushion for its evil impact, such a scheme is called extra-territoriality. But simply put, none of its operations and manpower (mostly Americans in the top echelon) is subject to Philippine laws.
In short, it is as if the Philippine polity does not exist at all.
So, we are about to encounter a splurge of evil deeds: Pembertons on rape and murder rampages, with none getting punished whatsoever. We recall how the young US Marine was spared from criminal punishment despite being found by a Philippine court guilty of killing the transgender woman Jennifer Laude.
With Pax Silica, expect more Laudes sacrificed on the altar of preposterous US justice.
It’s high time President Marcos is stopped in his binge of ceding to America precious chunks of Philippine territory.
