This is in hurricane country, having a reliable source of independent power for one of the country's most strategic ports sounds like a good start.
I found Dr. George Manzano an economist of UA&P opinión over the debate on pax silica even handed. He brought out the concerns of most environmental groups regarding electricity and water requirements of AI infrastructure or data center. These 2 main concerns of environmentalist is why Legaspi city, Albay make more sense and better address over Tarlac.
Many were surprised and left wondering when pax silica was announced by the BCDA and later by BBM during his 5th SONA. Many were caught off guard since there no previous coordination with a co-equal branch of government the legislature, Senate and Congress. So now Filipinos are left to speculate.
One of these concerns are the impact on the environment especially power and water. Many believe the data centers will worsen the water and electricity supply of the area where it's going to be build. No doubt data centers will use enormous amount of water for cooling and power to run all these computer servers 24 hours a day in all weather conditions.
These concerns will be better addressed if pax silica is located in Legaspi City, Albay. Since Legaspi City is a coastal city sea water rather than ground water can be use for cooling purposes. The nearby town of Tiwi where the geothermal power plants are located could very well provide the much needed electricity that the AI infrastructure will be built. Also there's a ready site for factories and buildings without the fear of displacing farmers, residents and IP. The now abandoned Legaspi City airport is available and is easily accessible to many workers through public transportation.
Finally Dr. Manzano addressed the fears of many that only low level skills will be available to Filipino workers. He cited the BPO industry which started as offering only call center or voice call but now have evolved and leveled up due to up skilling of Filipino workers. Filipinos may start at the bottom but once we acquire the skills in advance chips manufacturing many Filipinos will move up.
The average cost of diesel and gasoline in the Philippines today as reported be gaswatchph on there website.
It's very costly to transport people and merchandise and it's affecting the cost of daily living. Have you noticed how expensive food items? Even farmers in Benguet can't afford to transport their vegetables to Metro Manila. They choose to dump and throw them away than sell at a loss.
At the end everyone suffer due to high fuel cost.
Since Tarlac is too controversial and problematic to host Pax Silica other provinces are now interested to host this US-led initiative that will bring jobs and most of all increase property prices.
Palawan according to this news article from Business World have submitted its intention to host Pax Silica. I hope the province of Albay lobby too to host and become alternate site of pax silica.Since the province of Albay and is rated as 1 of the poorest province in Luzon if not the entire Philippines pax silica can bring much needed investments and jobs to the province. Rather being known to be the poorest province in Luzon Albay would be a high tech province.
Industrialization is the key to lift Albay out of poverty because its prone to typhoon that devastate the province around November and December during amihan and harvest season. Its always a sad Christmas for Albay. Agriculture is dead in the province and it even have to import most of its food requirements from neighboring provinces of CamSur and Sorsogon.
Motorists will face higher pump prices starting Tuesday, August 18, with fuel products rising by P2.49 to P5.01 per liter after two consecutive weeks of rollbacks.
Read: https://www.philstar.com/business/2026/08/17/2549916/fuel-prices-seen-jump-p501-liter
https://inis.iaea.org/records/yv59g-jch72
The above link was shared to me to prove the Philippines has no significant thorium deposit. The study was made by scientists or personnels of the PNRI or the Philippines Nuclear Research Institute. The research focus on 3 sites in Palawan after satellite studies that cover 70% of the Philippines.
Since the Philippines have no significant oil deposit we import 100% of our oil requirements for gasoline and diesel to run transportation for people and merchandise. We have minimal gas deposits in Malampaya, some geothermal resources, a little quantity of coal and some solar energy. Local energy sources is from 10% to 20%. So between 80% - 90% of fuel for electricity generation is also imported. This is the main reason why electricity price is so expensive in the Philippines compared to Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. We can safely say the Philippines import 100% of our energy need.
Looking at this sad scenario BMFM or Bansang Malaya Freedom Movement believe the path for energy independence for the Philippines is through nuclear energy especially thorium and uranium fuel. Although some experts have already debunked the claim that the Philippines has rich thorium deposits it's still up for debate. No conclusive exploration have been done. Also we will be looking at sites were nickel and other rare earth minerals are mined since thorium is mixed in these minerals.
So why thorium or Th-232? The USA after 2nd world war suddenly found itself with this so much nuclear lab that was established during the war, the Manhattan project. Th-232 was found out to be one of the materials for nuclear fuel. Although Th-232 is non-fissile, it's fertile element, meaning it can be turned or transmuted to a fissile element U-233. And the environment is a salt solution. For various reasons the MSRE or molten salt reactor experiment was abandoned and only in 2011 after it was declassified the Chinese are now continuing the experiment labeling the effort as TMSR-LF1.
MSR or molten salt reactor we believe is safer compared to LWR or light water reactor. It's safer because it operates at atmospheric pressure, no long live nuclear waste, and has zero potential for nuclear weapons proliferation.
According to this news article from Philstar the NBI raided a steel mill using ores contaminated with thorium-232 and uranium-238. At 1st glanced you will think this is bad but if you know your basic chemistry and periodic table you will realized these radioactive materials are non-fissile therefore has no ill effects on human health.
On the other hand we found this news article very useful because it support our position that energy independence for the Philippines is very possible through nuclear power. The Philippines lack any meaningful gas resources, has no oil, and the coal cannot be use for fuel in coal power plants. In short the Philippines need to import almost 100% of its energy need. This is also the main reason why electricity is so expensive in the Philippines compared to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei
However the Philippines is rich in thorium. So the path for energy independence for the Philippines is through nuclear energy, aka France.
‘AYAW PO NAMIN UMALIS DOON DAHIL NANDOON ANG BURIAL GROUND NG MGA NINUNO NAMIN’
Muling nanawagan si Petroniza Capriz-Muñoz, chieftain ng Sitio Sapang Kawayan sa Tarlac, na huwag silang ilipat o paalisin sa kanilang lugar sa gitna ng planong pagtatayo ng Pax Silica initiative. Aniya, naroon ang burial ground ng kanilang mga ninuno, na mahalaga sa kanilang komunidad.
Samantala, tiniyak ng BCDA sa pagdinig ng Senado na irerespeto at hindi gagalawin ang burial grounds kung sakaling maapektuhan ng proyekto.
Gayunman, sinabi ng ahensya na hindi pa nila ito napag-uusapan nang detalyado kasama ang komunidad at magsasagawa muna ng aktuwal na imbentaryo sa mga ari-arian at komunidad sa lugar, katuwang ang National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.
Panoorin ang livestream: https://bit.ly/PaxSilicaSenateAug14
Peace is very much needed by the world today. Conflicts between nations are started and fought over lack of resources. Today the world is experiencing the lack of materials for energy, water, and natural resources the sustain the post modern world economy of AI, semiconductors, and data centers.
This is not the 1st time that a country who control the natural resources only found in their territory have denied the world so other countries economy will fail. In the 1970's during the war between Israel and other Arab countries, Arab countries retaliate vs. the West and other Israel allies by not selling oil. The modern economy relies on crude oil to run.
Today we are again witnessing the same situation. This time it's semiconductors and minerals need to manufacture these advance semiconductors. Since China made a decision several years back, China has total monopoly on semiconductors and rare earth materials. China have denied selling these resources and materials to Japan and other countries it deemed hostile.
War over rare earth could be on the horizon but if the Philippines can broker peace and prevent war then the US initiatives of pax silica couple with molten salt reactor research We strongly believe it's all worth it. Molten salt reactor research was abandoned by the USA and was declassified in 2011 by Pres. Barack Obama. MSR promised to be safe, abundant and cheaper electricity for everyone.
Sinita ni Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Geraldine Econg si Tarlac 3rd District Rep. Noel “Bong” Rivera dahil sa pagsusuot ng pantalon na maong at t-shirt sa court proceeding ng Second Division nitong Martes, Agosto 11.
Ang usapin sa nuclear energy naging mainit ulit ng banggitin ni BBM sa 5th SONA. Marami ang nag-react and ask kung rehab ba ng BNPP ang tinutukoy ni BBM o ibang type ng nuclear reactor power plant. Anyway nakita namin na opportunity ang announcement na eto and we are coming out in full support for nuclear energy.
Also after the 5th SONA BMFM or Bansang Malaya Freedom Movement did an informa survey l here in Reddit and ask if Filipinos accept or oppose nuclear energy. We were surprise many now support nuclear but not the rehabilitation and use of the BNPP due to the 3 accidents from the light water reactors in the past. The worst was the Fukushima power plant. So if there will be a safer alternative to the light water reactor we believe we will be able to convince more Filipinos to support nuclear energy.
The good news is there is an alternative to the light water reactor most of us have known and it's called molten salt reactor. What differ molten salt reactor to the light water reactor? Firstly, both LWR or light water reactor and MSR or molten salt reactor use fission. The difference is in the coolant to keep the reactor from meltdown. LWR use light water while MSR use molten salt as coolant. We all know water boils at 100C while salt can boil at much higher temperature even up to 1000C depending on the type of salt. Due to this difference in chemistry of water and salt some people have viewed MSR as a much better alternative. In fact some people have dubbed MSR as a high heat low pressure reactor while LWR is a pressurized water reactor. We all know when pressure is applied it's prone to explode like what happened in Fukushima.
“Di porket nakatira ka sa squatter ay maging ugaling squatter ka. Yung mga basurang yan kanino po ba galing yan?" aniya.
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has received the copy of the 2027 National Expenditure Program, a spending plan Speaker Faustino Dy 3rd said would be subjected to rigorous scrutiny to ensure that every peso would be spent for the benefit of all Filipinos.
Read more: https://tmt.news/2402582
Even before pax silica was thought or initiated by the USA this year there were already efforts by the USA to spread peace throughout the world through energy abundance. And the first country to respond to this American initiative was China.
After Pres. Barack Obama de-classify the TMSR experiment the Chinese Academy of Sciences sent a delegation to Oak Ridge National Laboratory to study the TMSR experiment. The year was 2011 and the world just witnessed the worst nuclear power accident yet the Chinese Academy of Sciences was interested to learn more about molten salt reactor.
Last year, 2025, China have built a full size thorium molten salt experimental reactor in the Gobi desert. Producing just 6MW of power it's an experimental reactor to test the concepts developed in Oak Ridge. The successful report if they can breed U-233 from Th-233.