Dennis Gaviola

Article (news)

Salve Ibaňez

ABS-CBN News

<div>PAX SILICA: NO SIGNATURES YET, BUT PEZA IS BUILDING THE RUNWAY</div>The business community is buzzing over Finance Secretary Frederick Go naming Foxconn — yes, the maker of the world’s iPhones — as the intended anchor of the US-backed Pax Silica AI hub rising on 4,000 acres of New Clark City. One analyst note that landed in my inbox calls it “potentially one of the country’s biggest FDI wins in years”, material for an economy that attracts only about $9 billion in FDI annually.Imagine 100,000 new AI-related jobs? That’s 100,000 families with better income. But that’s IF we can supply an AI-ready workforce. But I get ahead of myself.PEZA Director General Tereso Panga told us in Business Outlook: there are no signed contracts yet. The framework agreement is targeted within the year, per Secretary Go.So what’s a zone authority to do while the lawyers circle? Build absorptive capacity. PEZA is expanding along the Luzon Economic Corridor, adding 20 new economic zones a year as planned (lower than the 30 formerly cited), and scaling up its Advanced AI Academy — the Cebu-launched program with TESDA and StackTrek that has already issued some 5,000 AI training certificates — so the manpower is ready before the machines arrive.And when I raised the perennial dealbreaker — our notoriously expensive electricity — Panga pushed back. Power rates inside PEZA zones are cheaper, he said, and the facilities are world-class, giving neighboring countries a run for their money. Locators, in his telling, can simply focus on what’s inside the fence instead of the problems outside it. At least that’s what it sounded like from where I sat.I don’t blame Panga for selling his zones — that’s the job. But news flash: for supply chains to run smoothly, you can’t just perfect the enclave. You need to reshape the whole nation — the grid, the ports, the roads that connect one world-class fence to another.An anchor announcement is not yet capex. Signed agreements, disclosed commitments, construction timelines — that’s what converts a headline into a boom.Still, Panga is a technocrat, not a politician, and it was oddly refreshing to hear someone talk execution — zones, academies, absorptive capacity — after weeks of depressing chatter about weakening GDP growth and an impeachment trial that is testing everybody’s patience. At least Alex Eala’s Wimbledon match broke the metallic taste in the mouth of bad politics.<div>THE QUIET FIXER OF HOUSING</div>This high-ranking government official is allergic to cameras but fast acquiring a reputation for being ruthlessly effective — say those pleasantly surprised to work with him. His mission: pressure the private sector to bring prices of middle-market and socialized housing units down. Remember the middle-market glut that’s been stubbornly difficult to unwind? He attacked it by pushing every button that makes financing cheaper and more available. No press conference, no photo op. Unlike some officials, he prefers to work far from the limelight — which may be exactly why it’s working. Guess who?Boardroom Tea comes out every Wednesday.

Imagine 100,000 new AI-related jobs? That’s 100,000 families with better income.

Imagine 100,000 new AI-related jobs? That’s 100,000 families with better income.

Boardroom Tea: Foxconn and the Philippines' AI ambitions

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Boardroom Tea: Foxconn and the Philippines' AI ambitions

Salve Ibaňez,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 08, 2026 10:00 PM PHT

Read More:

Boardroom Tea

Pax Silica

Foxconn

AI

Clark City

PEZA

foreign investment

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