Aeta residents challenge U.S.-linked chip hub over land in the Philippines

Aeta residents in the Philippines say authorities have told them to leave land designated for a U.S.-linked semiconductor hub, despite an official denial that anyone would be displaced. Mongabay’s reporting, republished by Grist on October 14, describes a project whose planned footprint overlaps Indigenous land claims while its final terms remain unsettled.

A manufacturing hub with a large resource bill

Washington and Manila announced the 4,000-acre high-tech manufacturing hub in April. It belongs to Pax Silica, a U.S.-led pact to build AI and semiconductor supply chains that do not depend on China. The proposed site sits within New Clark City, in the larger Clark area managed by the Philippine Bases Conversion and Development Authority, or BCDA.

The distinction between making chips and hosting computing equipment remains important here. BCDA initially said data centers could be included. But its chief, Joshua Bingcang, and the president’s office later denied that in September, describing a semiconductor facility instead. A forum document listed data centers elsewhere in New Clark City’s planned infrastructure without establishing that they would sit inside the hub.

Bingcang gave a “conservative” estimate of about 3 gigawatts of power demand and said the facility would run mainly on solar energy. He also estimated daily water consumption of 16 million to 24 million gallons, supplied by rainwater collected in an impounding dam. These are projections for the proposed facility, not measured consumption.

Giovanni Tapang, a former University of the Philippines science dean and convenor of the Network Opposed to Pax Silica, questioned both plans. He asked how much farmland solar panels would require and whether dam supplies would hold through the December-to-May dry season, when farmers also need irrigation water.

An untitled claim is not an empty site

The land dispute turns on competing accounts of who occupies the site and how their claims should be recognized. A survey by Syracuse University professor Arnisson Andre Ortega found that planned construction would encroach on land belonging to at least three existing Aeta villages. Bingcang denied the project would displace anyone, saying there was no ancestral domain title in the area.

Gloria Capiz-Estabillo, a 76-year-old elder of the Aeta Hungey tribe, gave Mongabay a different account: BCDA had already told Aetas they needed to leave. She questioned where residents would live and what would happen to their crops.

Aetas in Clark have sought a certificate of ancestral domain title since 1994. The process requires a detailed map, a population census, elder testimony and genealogies covering at least five clans across three generations. Mongabay describes impoverished communities struggling to meet those requirements amid repeated delays.

The absence of a formal title does not invalidate their claim to their ancestral lands; rather, it highlights a critical lack of government support.

Arnisson Andre Ortega, Syracuse University professor, speaking to Mongabay

Protests before a final agreement

Opposition reached the Luzon Economic Corridor investors’ forum in Manila on September 10, where hundreds demonstrated outside the hotel hosting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Activists said police injured at least 27 protesters and arrested five. Police reported minor injuries to 16 personnel. Nearby Aeta communities joined protests when the forum moved to New Clark City the next day.

Officials defend the hub as an economic opportunity. Finance Undersecretary Angela Ignacio said it could make the Philippines a global technology player, but called detailed disclosures premature before plans were finalized. U.S. State Department adviser Heather Variava said the goal was to bring additional power, water and benefits to the country. A final bilateral agreement is slated for November.