Indigenous Aeta community fears displacement as US-backed semiconductor hub looms in Tarlac

In April the United States announced that the Philippines had joined Pax Silica, a program to secure semiconductor and rare-earth supply chains, and designated a 1,620-hectare parcel in New Clark City, Tarlac, for a future AI-data-centre component factory. The government projects up to $70 billion in investment and roughly 190,000 jobs, but the plan threatens the ancestral lands of the Aeta Hungey tribe, whose 1,000 members live there.

In July the Bases Conversion and Development Authority warned the community that the project could impact their territory and offered 30 pesos per square metre, an offer the tribe rejected. Tribe leader Munoz says the BCDA gave no detailed boundary map and asked residents to relocate by December without a clear relocation plan. The agency declined a freedom-of-information request for site data, while Senate hearings highlighted that the Aetas lack formal land titles.

Critics also point to potential water and power shortages in a drought-prone country, though officials say investors must build their own utilities. The tribe worries they will not qualify for the promised jobs and fear losing their cultural heritage.