As the Philippines is set to sign the Pax Silica agreement in November, Multisec groups launch RECLAIM to take back Filipino land, resources, and sovereignty
Quezon City, Philippines — Thirty-five national coalitions, political organizations and people’s movements of workers, farmers, fisherfolk, women, urban poor, youth and faith-based groups today launched “RECLAIM”, a campaign asserting that the Philippines’ land, water, energy, and sovereignty belong to the Filipino people. The launch comes weeks before the government is expected to sign the United States (US)-led Pax Silica economic-security framework. The convenors signed a unity statement calling on the people to take back control of national industrial development from foreign interests and defend our resources from US-led initiatives.
The RECLAIM Economic Sovereignty and Ecological Integrity criticized the Philippine government for rushing toward a one-sided deal it has yet to explain to its own people. The groups also called out the US for pressing the Philippines to commit the country’s land, water, and power to its supply-chain and security goals while the terms remain hidden from the public. To date, the final project design, resource requirements, environmental impacts, investment terms, and social costs have also not been disclosed or independently assessed.
The coalition emphasized that Pax Silica is not simply an industrial investment proposal. It is a US-led strategic initiative that binds Philippine technology, critical minerals, energy, and infrastructure to Washington’s economic and security agenda. At stake in the proposed 4,000-acre (approximately 1,620-hectare) Economic Security Zone in New Clark City, Capas, Tarlac, is who controls the country’s land and resources, who pays the costs, and how far the country is dragged into US military plans.
They further demand to reject Pax Silica in light of the formal accession of the Philippines during the ASEAN Summit in Manila this November. US President Donald Trump is expected to attend the summit.
The RECLAIM Economic Sovereignty and Ecological Integrity stands as a line of defense for Filipino land, resources, and sovereignty, upholding that what is being given away belongs to the Filipino people and that it is theirs to reclaim. More activities and announcements are set to follow in the coming weeks.
Read the unity statement and other materials for more details.
QUOTES:
“It makes no sense locking in the country to a grossly disadvantageous, dangerous, and lopsided agreement. Instead of kowtowing to US interests, we call on the Government to reject Pax Silica. The welfare and well-being of people and planet must be non-negotiable bottom lines. And when the Marcos Jr. Government would rather sacrifice our food, water, lands, and future, our task is to organize the broadest resistance and reclaim our sovereignty!”
— Lidy Nacpil, Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC); Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development
“BCDA has estimated that the Pax Silica hub could require approximately 3 GW of electricity at full development. The central issue is not simply whether the Philippines can generate enough electricity to power Pax Silica. The central issue is what kind of electricity will be built, for whom, and at whose cost. Pax Silica creates a potential grave tension with the country's already crisis-stricken energy transition. The impacts of the looming Super El Niño hit marginalized communities already suffering from multiple crises. We have no choice but to fight.”
— Ian Rivera, Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ)
“No investment deal, no matter how strategic, should place human rights beyond public scrutiny. Economic security is not a blank check for the government to bypass communities, disregard environmental costs, and shrink civic space. The Filipino people are not obstacles to development. They are the key actors and beneficiaries of development.”
- Nymia Simbulan, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)
“Pax silica is a pivot away from national and economic sovereignty to subservience to US military and economic interests. The Philippines’ accession is a commitment to the US imperialist agenda in Southeast Asia, which would mean environmental plunder, displacement of farming and indigenous communities, and further entrenching the US foothold in the archipelago. At a time when Filipinos are drowning in poverty, sky-high prices, and unemployment, while ravaged by Super El Niño and worsening climate impacts, Pax Silica clearly exposes how the Marcos Jr. regime is not only out of touch but a burden for the people.”
— Aaron Pedrosa, SANLAKAS
“As elites and political dynasties plunder the Philippines and subordinate economic priorities to imperialist agendas such as the US-led Pax Silica initiative, we must expose and resist these schemes. The US-puppet Marcos Jr. administration, as well as Duterte, must be held accountable for decisions that sacrifice the people and facilitate environmental destruction. We must advance a concrete alternative: a government of the masses that directs technology and production toward national sovereignty, ecological justice, and the collective well-being of the Filipino people.”
— Khyl Ramos, Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM)
“Pax Silica will bring no peace as it siphons our resources for the benefit of imperial powers. Its promises are as brittle as silica. Tao at kalikasan muna kaysa dambuhalang kita.”
— Fr. Christian “Toots” Buenafe, O. Carm, Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines-JPICC, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP)
“Pax Silica is a deepening of imperialist domination and represents the reorganization of supply chains surrounding critical minerals and AI tech development in the heightening rivalry between the US and the PRC. Rather than promoting jobs, boosting economic production, and ensuring higher-level advancement in manufacturing, this entire unequal agreement with the US Imperial core only seeks to siphon off greater value out of cheap labor and environmental exploitation. In order to conceal what is essentially the wholesale auction of the cheap Filipino labor, ancestral land, water, and energy to US capitalists, the governments of Marcos and Trump are rushing to hammer the final nail in the coffin and seal us to our fate. Workers of the Philippines must militantly oppose this move and champion the struggle for sovereignty against US imperialism.”
— Luke Espiritu, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)
"When economic development is drawn into the geopolitical contest for power and military dominance, the Philippines risks becoming more than a pawn in the U.S.–China rivalry—it risks becoming a frontline, a staging ground, and a supply line for a war that serves the interests of others, not its people. Our future must not be shaped by the strategic ambitions of competing powers. The Philippines must chart an independent course: a bridge for peace in Asia and the Pacific, not a launchpad for confrontation."
– Atty. Corazon Fabros, Stop the War Coalition
ABOUT THE COALITION
The RECLAIM Economic Sovereignty and Ecological Integrity is a coalition of 35 founding members from civil society, including national coalitions, political organizations, non-government organizations, people’s movements, faith-based groups, and youth and community organizations. Its members include 31 organizations and four regional chapters of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ). The founding members are Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC); Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP); Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA); Altertrade Foundation Philippines Inc.; Aniban ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA); Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP); Concerned Citizens of Sta. Cruz, Zambales (CCOS); Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines – Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission (CMSP-JPICC); ; Gitib, Inc.; Integrated Rural Development Foundation Inc. (IRDF); Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KILUSAN); Kilusan para sa Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan (KATARUNGAN); Koalisyon Isalbar Ti Pintas ti La Union (KIPLU); Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod (KPML); Mayon Integrated Development Alternatives and Services Inc. (MIDAS); NGO Forum on the ADB; Nuclear/Coal-Free Bataan Movement (NFBM); K4K-QC; Oriang Women’s Movement; Pambansang Kaisahan ng Magbubukid sa Pilipinas (PKMP); Pambansang Koalisyon ng mga Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK); Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM); Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA); PMCJ and its regional chapters in Cebu, Eastern Visayas, Davao, and Western Mindanao; Sanlakas; Stop the War Coalition; Tambuyog Development Center; Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC); Youth for Climate Justice (Y4CJ); Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO); and Partido Sosyalista.
For inquiries, contact:
Sheila Abarra
Senior Media and Communications Officer
Philippine Movement for Climate Justice
Viber: +63-991-669-2356
WhatsApp: +63-938-089-8327
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