Akbayan Youth - UST

26/07/2026

𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮, 𝗣𝗮𝘅 𝗨𝗽 𝗡𝗼𝘄! 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗦𝗵𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘅 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻!
Akbayan Youth España 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗻𝘀 Pax Silica; People’s Consensus, Not Washington Consensus!

Akbayan Youth! España expresses its strongest condemnation and detests the deepening of the Philippines into the Pax Silica Initiative. The efforts to further entrench the country into this agreement have gone unchecked and clearly without restraint. The Marcos Administration, no different from the previous under Duterte, continues to negotiate our sovereignty behind closed doors while we bear the brunt of it.

The Philippines’ industries remain underdeveloped, our labor undervalued, and natural resources extracted to export for the benefit of others. Pax Silica is not a partnership among equals, or a benevolent initiative for development aid. It is a corporate project to find new suppliers—a swing of expansionism amid great power rivalry, with the Philippines positioned as a resource frontier of critical minerals and cheap labor.

The entrance of Pax Silica into New Clark City is marketed as an “advanced manufacturing and AI industrial hub”. Behind this cryptic corporate language, sits a 4,000 acre economic zone in Central Luzon repurposed for foreign supply chains rather than domestic manufacturing and industry. It is a zone with willing foreign investors whose promise is justified by the access to rare earth minerals and millions in tax benefits. A zone neighboring provinces already scarred by decades of extraction, deforestation, and contaminated waterways.

What is being discussed, planned, and soon to be built is not a Filipino engine of development, an “AI-native” facility. It is a foreign plant, whose environmental costs in water pollution and energy demand, will be paid for by ordinary consumers and nearby communities. While the highly valued minerals and cheap labor it came here for, flows outward to serve foreign manufacturing and markets.

We reject the false choice between Washington and Beijing. Both represent foreign corporate and warring powers competing over our land, labor, and resources. The decision between one or the other, while basic services are cut under austerity and domestic industries remain weak, is not a different choice—but a different leash.

Neither has the welfare of the Filipino masses as its central and actual objective. The alternative is not realignment or weighing between different powers. It is genuine people’s industrialization and agrarian reform, planned and implemented for the needs of the many rather than the profits of a few. We call on the broad sectors of ordinary Filipinos to stand united against agreements to mortgage our sovereign lands and natural wealth to foreign companies.

Genuine industrialization must serve the Filipino masses, not an elite few whether foreign or local. We demand genuine transparency and inclusion, where communities are included and the marginalized are heard. We demand the immediate suspension of Pax Silica Initiative, along with a truly independent and people-centered review.

𝗔𝗸𝗯𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 - 𝗘𝘀𝗽𝗮ñ𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀:

𝟭) 𝗥𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝘀, 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺 𝗮 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝘀.
- Initiate an alternative and comprehensive economic program for genuine industrialization and agrarian reform.
- Prioritize the voices of labor and local communities, not foreign companies. Suspend Pax Silica NOW!

Ang usapin ng kaunlaran ay usapin ng mayorya, hindi ng iilang mayaman at kumpanya.

𝟮) 𝗥𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽’𝘀 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗮𝘅 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗫𝗶’𝘀 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺, 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
- Reject the US NDA Act and US-PH Critical Minerals Framework aligned Pax Silica.
- Align industrial policy to people’s interests, not foreign and elite interests. Not Beijing, Not Washington.

Walang lupa at tubig para sa Pax. Walang isla at dagat para sa China. Atin ang Pinas!

𝟯) 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗹, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝘄!
- Ibalik ang usapin ng kaunlaran sa masa!
- Welga tungong reporma, baguhin ang sistema!

Sa panahon ng krisis at kahirapan, isulong ang tunay at pang-masang kaunlaran!

24/07/2026

𝗔𝗞𝗕𝗔𝗬𝗔𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦: 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗫 𝗦𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗖𝗔; 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧

Akbayan Party evaluates every major investment according to a consistent set of democratic, developmental, labor, environmental, and sovereignty principles. Investments should strengthen Philippine sovereignty, uphold ecological integrity, create decent work, develop domestic technological capabilities, respect workers' rights, promote peace, deepen democratic institutions, and contribute to a resilient and inclusive economy. Projects that advance these objectives deserve support. Those that undermine them should be opposed regardless whether they come from the United States, China, or anywhere else.

The Philippines should welcome investments that expand our industrial base, accelerate innovation, and enable Filipino workers and enterprises to move into higher-value industries. But investment alone does not constitute development. Foreign investments must generate meaningful technology transfer, quality employment, skills development, fair labor standards, responsible environmental stewardship, and opportunities for Filipino firms while avoiding one-sided economic dependency, excessive market concentration, and undue foreign influence over strategic sectors.

Akbayan therefore calls on Congress to conduct a comprehensive inquiry in aid of legislation to determine whether Pax Silica genuinely advances our national interest. The inquiry should examine its economic, technological, labor, environmental, national security, cybersecurity, and data governance implications; the transparency of its negotiations and incentives; its ownership structure and regulatory compliance; and the adequacy of safeguards against monopoly, undue foreign influence, and risks to critical infrastructure. It should likewise ensure full protection of workers' rights, including freedom of association and collective bargaining, and affirm that Philippine law shall govern, with all disputes falling exclusively within the jurisdiction of Philippine quasi-judicial bodies and courts.

The inquiry should also determine whether the project’s planned hyperscale data centers and supporting infrastructure will place unsustainable demands on our country’s electricity and water resources, contribute to the conversion of productive agricultural land, or impose unacceptable social and environmental costs on the host communities of Capas and Bamban. Congress must hear directly from local governments, workers, trade unions, farmers, indigenous people where applicable, environmental experts, civil society, and industry stakeholders before any long-term commitments are made.

Beyond this, public discussion on Pax Silica should become an opportunity for our country to push for a coherent industrial strategy that identifies the industries it seeks to build, the technologies it intends to develop, and the quality jobs it aims to create so that major investments reinforce a long-term national development agenda rather than define it.

For Akbayan, the issue has never been whether foreign investments come from the East or the West. The real question is whether it serves the Filipino people. Innovation must strengthen Philippine sovereignty, create shared prosperity, and advance a technologically capable, economically resilient, democratically governed, and socially just nation.

28/06/2026

01/05/2026

28/04/2026

25/04/2026

25/04/2026

𝗣𝗮𝗵𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗴 𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗸𝗯𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 - 𝗘𝘀𝗽𝗮ñ𝗮 𝘀𝗮 𝗠𝗴𝗮 𝗞𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝗮 𝗜𝘀𝗹𝗮 𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘀
Nakikiisa ang Akbayan Youth - España sa pagdadalamhati sa lahat ng mga nasawi sa isinagawang operasyon ng 79th Infantry Battalion ng 3rd Infantry Division ng Armed Forces of the Philippines sa Toboso, Negros Occidental noong ika-19 ng Abril 2026.

Mariing kinokondena ang madugong karahasan na nangyari na manipestasyon ng isang sistemang nakasentro sa interes ng naghaharing uri at sa ekspresyon ng paghahari nito na nakabatay sa rehimeng Marcos-Duterte. Sa isang ganap na demokratikong lipunan, walang espasyo ang pang-aabuso at karahasan ng kahit sinuman, lalo na ng estado. Ang ganitong uri ng dahas na walang kritikal at masusing imbestigasyon ay tahasang pagnormalisa at pagtanggap sa mga kasong pagyurak sa dignidad ng mamamayang Pilipino.

Kung ang kambal ng sinungaling ay pagnanakaw, ang kanilang tagong kapatid ay ang dahas. Sila ay mga anak na dala ng impunity, produkto ng mas malawak na patakaran ng panunupil, na pinagtibay at pinalawak ng Memorandum Order No. 32 at ng Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. Ginagamit ang mga ito upang gawing lehitimo ang dahas, patahimikin ang mga nagtatanong, at gawing target ang mga ordinaryong mamamayan na tila walang karapatan.

Ito ay isa sa mga ehemplo ng kontradiksyon na nagpapanatili sa isang atrasadong demokrasya, ekonomiya, at kultura. Ang mga institusyon na dapat nagpoprotekta sa demokratikong karapatan ng mamamayan tulad ng Commission on Human Rights at Department of Justice ay tila tahimik at tungo-tungo na lamang.

Bilang kasapi ng Akbayan Youth-UST, Kami ay Aktibong Nanawagan:
𝟭) 𝗠𝗮𝗴𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗮𝘄𝗮 𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱-𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 sa nangyaring karahasan at pagpatay. Paniguraduhin na hindi lamang islogan at lip service ang pagsunod sa international humanitarian law. Lalo na sa mga nakaraang at kasaysayan ng abuso na nangyari sa kamay ng AFP.

𝟮) 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝘆𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗽𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗱𝘂𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗻𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀. Nanawagan kami para maging malaya at malakas ang CHR para hatulan ang mga kaso ng pang-aabuso at karahasan, lalo na sa ilalim ng estado. Paniguraduhin ang karapatan ng ordinaryong mamamayan at protektahan sila laban sa pang-aabuso.

𝟯) 𝗕𝘂𝘄𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗴𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗱 𝗻𝗴 𝗠.𝗢. 𝟯𝟮, 𝗘.𝗢. 𝟳𝟬, 𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶-𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗮𝘄. Irebyu at tuluyang buwagin ang mga patakaran na ginagawang lehitimo ang dahas, legal ang paglabag sa karapatan, at sinusupil ang ordinaryong mamamayan. Tutulan ang abuso at karahasang institusyonal na dala ng gobyerno na dapat nagpoprotekta sa atin.

𝟰) 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗮 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝘄. Pigilan ang mga operasyon ng pagmamanman at pagre-red-tag sa hanay ng mga estudyante at kabataan. Itaguyod ang usapin ng tunay na reporma sa lupa at demokratikong karapatan.

Ang pagnormalisa sa karahasan ay pag walang bahala sa mga kaso ng pang-aabuso at paglabag sa karapatang pantao. Ito ay banta, hindi lang sa mga progresibong puwersa, kundi pati na rin sa sambayanan at masang Pilipino. Sa halip ang bawat pisong buwis ay napupunta sa paglaya sa kahirapan at laman ng kanilang tiyan, ito ay napupunta sa paglaya ng mga abusado at laman ng baril na tila walang pananagutan.

Ang pananagutan sa mga kaso ng abuso at karahasan ay dapat nakabatay sa katotohanan. Ito ay hindi kailanman magiging tunay kung ang mismong pumatay ay ang mismong hukom kung ito ay alinsunod sa karapatan. Ang pabayaan ang kaso ng karahasan at abuso sa iilan ay siyang siguradong paglabag sa karapatan ng karamihan.

23/04/2026

𝗛𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗦𝗬𝗔 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗔 𝗦𝗔 𝗟𝗔𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗜𝗞𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗔 𝗡𝗚 𝗞𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗛𝗔𝗦𝗔𝗡 𝗦𝗔 𝗡𝗘𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗦 — 𝗜𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗔𝗡𝗚 𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗨𝗠 𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝟯𝟮, 𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗚𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗠𝗔!

Nakikiisa ang Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP), kasama ang malawak na hanay ng kilusang estudyante sa buong bansa, sa pagdadalamhati at panawagan ng hustisya para sa lahat ng biktima ng karahasan sa Negros Occidental, kabilang ang pagkamatay ng kapwa estudyante, lider, konsehala ng University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman University Student Council na si Alyssa Alano sa gitna ng operasyong militar sa Barangay Salamanca, Toboso.

Malinaw ang katotohanan: isang kabataan at lider-estudyante na may pangarap ang pinaslang. Ito ang bunga ng patuloy na karahasan na produkto ng mga hindi matugunang isyung panlipunan na tinatanggihang harapin ng gobyerno tulad ng kawalan ng lupa at kakulangan sa batayang serbisyong panlipunan—mga kondisyong nag-ugat sa elitistang demokrasya, pasismo, lantarang korapsyon, mga krisis dulot ng kapitalismo, at iba pang sistemikong problema. Ngunit anuman ang konteksto, hindi kailanman maaaring isantabi ang karapatan sa buhay. Ang pagiging “diumano’y armado” ay hindi lisensya para sa paglabag sa due process o pagkitil ng buhay.

Sa ilalim ng International Humanitarian Law (IHL), may malinaw na obligasyon ang estado na sumunod sa mga prinsipyo ng distinction at proportionality—mga pamantayang pinagtitibay ng Republic Act No. 9851, or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity, na nag-aatas na papanagutin ang mga lumalabag sa mga alituntunin ng digmaan at tiyaking napapangalagaan ang dignidad ng bawat tao, kahit sa gitna ng armadong tunggalian.

Sa ganitong konteksto, mariin naming kinokondena ang nagpapatuloy na karahasan na ang mga mamamayan ng Negros Occidental ang patuloy na nagdurusa. Kaugnay nito, nananawagan kami na ibasura ang Memorandum Order No. 32, na nagbigay-daan sa paglala ng militarisasyon sa mga komunidad, at ituon ang pondo sa pagtugon sa ugat ng sigalot—lupa, kabuhayan, at serbisyong panlipunan.

Kasabay nito, nananawagan kami sa Commission on Human Rights (CHR) na pangunahan ang isang agarang, independyente, at transparent na imbestigasyon upang matiyak ang pananagutan at mailatag ang katotohanan lampas sa mga ulat ng militar. Ang mga operasyong nagreresulta sa maramihang pagkamatay nang walang naaresto ay dapat agarang siyasatin upang matiyak na hindi nalalabag ang karapatan sa buhay, due process, at mga pamantayan ng IHL.

Sa gitna ng pagdadalamhati, naninindigan ang kabataang Pilipino: walang tunay na kapayapaan kung walang hustisya. Patuloy nating ipaglalaban ang dignidad at kaligtasan ng lahat, at tutulan ang anumang anyo ng karahasan—lalo na yaong nagmumula sa estado.

𝗛𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘆𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗸𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘀𝗮 𝗔𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗼!
𝗨𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝘄!
𝗛𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘆𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝘀𝗮 𝗹𝗮𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗶𝗸𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮 𝗻𝗴 𝗸𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗻!