THE Senate, which on Friday opened hearings on the proposed Pax Silica initiative, will exercise strict oversight over the ambitious, albeit controversial project touted to help the country transition to industrialization and create thousands of jobs along the way.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian gave the assurance at the weekend to ensure that Pax Silica becomes a transformative economic opportunity for the country while ensuring concerns over its environmental impact are sufficiently addressed.
‘It is important for the Senate to have oversight and ensure that we respond to the risks and concerns,’ Gatchalian said.
The Pax Silica initiative, he added, should deliver long-term economic gains for the country without compromising environmental safety, constitutional sovereignty, and the rights of local communities, including farmers and Indigenous Peoples.
While the initiative presents a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity for the country to shift from low-value semiconductor assembly and vulnerable entry-level Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) jobs to high-value technology sector that could generate 200,000 direct jobs and up to 800,000 job opportunities during its construction phase, such economic prospects should be balanced with uncompromising vigilance.
He said Senate oversight would be maintained throughout all phases of the project.
The Senate Environment committee on Friday opened hearings on the ambitious Pax Silica complex in Central Luzon, touted to prime the economy and provide jobs, but saddled with criticism that it would pollute and displace communities and disrupt already scarce water and energy supplies in the region.
Officials of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) assured senators that all investors in the massive initiative are aware of the regulatory guidelines for their projects and have been told no shortcuts will be tolerated.
The investors have included projects to source their own power and water supplies, officials added.
‘We hope that these hearings can be the venue for full transparency,’ Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino said in his opening statement at the hearing, presided over by Environment panel chairman Sen. Raffy Tulfo.
While Tulfo began committee hearings in consideration of the timeline-a planned signing in November-several other committees, including Aquino’s Committee on Trade and Industry, had expressed interest to look into the matter and ease people’s worries about Pax Silica’s adverse impacts.
Government has said the core of the undertaking is the setting up of mineral processing facilities that will end the country’s failure to use its abundant resources to process ores and be able to sell high-value products, instead of merely exporting low-value, unprocessed minerals.
Aquino asked officials to answer questions on how many farmers will be affected, how many indigenous peoples (IP) communities could be banished from their ancestral domain.
‘With our goals towards industrialization, providing more jobs, advanced manufacturing,’ there is a need ‘to make sure that there’s a better way forward when it comes to progress in our country.’
It is vital to modernize key industries, he acknowledged, ‘but we must make sure no one,’ especially the ‘most vulnerable and marginalized’ like farmers and the IP, are not left behind
Sen. Francis Pangilinan acknowledged the ‘potential opportunities’ earlier cited by Gatchalian, especially the chance to graduate from being mere exporters of raw minerals to being part of advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence or AI enterprises.
He said the prospect of creating thousands of quality jobs and boosting the country’s position in strategic global supply chains is a decisive consideration in Pax Silica.
But, he added, there is a need to ensure this early that the grand promises don’t turn out to be empty ones. The promised technology transfer, the safeguards against pollution, displacement and environmental disruptions must be carried out.