31/07/2026
Will Pax Silica help build Filipino scientific capability, technological innovation, and industrial resilience? Or will it primarily serve the strategic interests of others while Filipinos provide the land, natural resources, water, energy, tax incentives, and labor?
These are legitimate questions—not because we oppose foreign investment, but because genuine partnership should strengthen the nation that hosts it.
Every nation pursues its own interests. That is the reality of international politics. The question for the Philippines is different.
Prudence therefore requires transparency, technology transfer, meaningful participation of Filipino scientists and industries, responsible stewardship of the environment, and a clear commitment to moving our country up the value chain rather than remaining merely a source of raw materials and cheap labor.
Yet the Church is called to raise an even deeper question.
In Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that the decisive issue is not what artificial intelligence can do, but what kind of human beings we are becoming. Technology must remain the servant of humanity, never its master.
The digital revolution must not become another arena where technological power is used for domination rather than cooperation.
The real question, therefore, is not simply whether Pax Silica will make economies stronger or artificial intelligence more powerful. It is whether it will help build what Pope Leo calls a civilization of love rather than a culture of power—a future in which technological progress serves human dignity, social fraternity, care for our common home, and peace among nations.
— Cardinal Pablo Virgilio "Ambo" David
Bishop of Kalookan
