Pax Silica voracious, unnecessary; may hit energy supply – Tinio

MANILA, Philippines — Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio on Saturday said that the proposed Pax Silica project in New Clark City in Tarlac is a “voracious” and “unnecessary project” that could entirely consume the country’s energy supply.

According to Tinio, the United States-led project could be used as an excuse to import and establish a modular nuclear power plant to meet the projected power demand of 5-gigawatts (GW).

The International Energy Agency previously noted that the 1,619-hectare data center could consume as much electricity as 100,000 households.

“First, the government commits to a US-led project that will consume a huge chunk of our national power supply for the benefit of foreign corporations. Then, it uses the resulting artificial energy crisis to justify importing risky, experimental nuclear technology from the same foreign power,” Tinio stated in a statement.

READ: Pax Silica’s mammoth power needs draw Maharlika, foreign interest

He added that the administration’s push for modular nuclear power under the US-Philippines 123 Agreement–a nuclear cooperation agreement, which enables American companies to export nuclear fuel reactors and technologies to the country–is motivated by the US corporate’s interests, “not by the needs of the Philippines”

“The Marcos administration is creating a crisis through Pax Silica and then offering a US-made modular nuclear ‘solution’ that will make us permanently dependent on American technology, fuel, and capital. This is not energy independence; this is deepening neocolonial control over our energy sector,” he argued.

READ: PH, US sign 123 agreement on nuclear energy

Tinio also pointed out that consumers are already struggling from the spike of electric costs due to Republic Act No. 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, which privatized the power sector, thus, directing 5GW “to an American-controlled enclave” could only lead to worsening power shortages and trigger another power rate increase.

“The solution is not to compound one disastrous policy with another. The solution is to scrap Pax Silica, which is a brazen resource grab, and to prioritize genuine national development and energy security for the Filipino people,” Tinio stated.

He encouraged Filipinos to oppose Pax Silica and plans of a modular nuclear power in the country, describing the projects as a “twin threats” to the country’s sovereignty, environment, as well as the public’s safety.

“We must not allow Pax Silica to be the excuse that opens the floodgates to modular nuclear power. The Filipino people will bear the cost—higher electricity rates, the risk of catastrophic accidents, and the permanent loss of control over our energy future. We demand the termination of the Pax Silica deal and the rejection of the modular nuclear energy path,” he said. /gsg