An agreement between the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) on Monday, July 20, has designated the Port of Subic as the preferred maritime gateway for Pax Silica operations within the Luzon Economic Corridor.
BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Joshua M. Bingcang and SBMA Chairman and Administrator Eduardo Jose L. Aliño signed the agreement in preparation for the establishment of an ‘AI-Native Industrial Acceleration Hub’ in New Clark City, Tarlac, under the Pax Silica project.
Under the BCDA-SBMA memorandum of understanding (MOU), the two agencies established a cooperation framework to support, study, and promote the use of Subic Bay as the preferred port for Pax Silica’s maritime logistics, cargo handling, import and export, data integration, and related supply chain activities.
The collaboration primarily involves the joint evaluation of current maritime logistics infrastructure in Subic to determine handling capacity for specialized cargo requirements of the Pax Silica initiative; studying the feasibility of establishing ‘green lanes’ or expedited import and export processing protocols in Subic for accredited Pax Silica locators; and exploring the interoperability of their digital logistics and port management platforms for a secure exchange of manifest data, supply chain tracking, and terminal operations metrics.
The parties also agreed to jointly map and optimize the multimodal logistics corridor connecting the Port of Subic to the BCDA-administered economic zones in Pampanga and Tarlac to ensure a seamless end-to-end supply chain.
In his message during the MOU signing, Aliño said the designation of Subic as the preferred maritime gateway is ‘a crowning recognition of the invaluable role that the Port of Subic can possibly play in support of the initiatives of the national government [for the] Pax Silica [project].’
‘With the Luzon Economic corridor as a trilateral, strategic, and high-impact logistics and industrial hub that would connect key economic gateways across western Luzon, we at the SBMA are putting the Port of Subic and its facilities at the disposal of the Pax Silica initiative to maximize international trade and supply chain resilience,’ Aliño added.
The Subic chief also gave the assurance that Subic’s deep-water port and shipyard facilities can quickly transport raw materials and processed tech goods between Subic and the proposed AI hub in New Clark City.
He added that Subic also has parcels of land available for strategic development to align with the demands of the Pax Silica initiative.
Likewise, Subic locators and stakeholders are willing to provide their expertise and services to the Pax Silica project, Aliño said.
Pax Silica is an international coalition led by the United States to secure global supply chains for artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and critical minerals.
The Philippines joined the US-led Pax Silica coalition as its 13th member last April and has agreed with the U.S. to develop a 4,000-acre economic security zone at the New Clark City to process locally extracted critical minerals and build next-generation AI infrastructure and computer chips. The New Clark City AI hub is expected to anchor the Philippines’ roles in the Pax Silica Initiative and place the country inside a trusted global technology network, the BCDA said.
Environmental impact assessment
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is now conducting an environmental impact assessment of the Pax Silica project amid emerging concerns on its possible negative effects in the communities to be covered by the United States (US)-led initiative, Malacañang said.
Pax Silica aims to challenge China’s dominance in semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) by establishing new supply chains by building data centers and rare earth processing facilities in partner countries of the US.