the AI center fight is about the future and the Philippines is part of the plan

I am not up on what is going on in the USA except that the left hates anything Trump is doing, and now is busy pushing outrage against AI Centers in the USA.... which of course would let China become the lead for the AI Future.

From Instapundit:

I’ve been lurking in anti-AI, anti-data center activist facebook groups just to understand what their arguments are

Guys it’s really not a good sign that they are borrowing the same tactic of framing non-violent things as violence. During the woke cultural revolution, innocuous… pic.twitter.com/EDb3CwKUoy

— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) May 19, 2026

.....

I had no idea about this until I read @amuse https://t.co/feIVBBrMIx

— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) May 20, 2026

,,,,,,,,

so what does this have to do with the Philippines? 

Cue up to the Pax Silica plan to industrialize the Philippines.

.. ..Pax Silica is the US outreach to other countries including the Philippines.

This historic declaration hails a new economic security consensus ensuring aligned partners build the AI ecosystem of tomorrow—from energy and critical minerals to high-end manufacturing and models.,,,

We recognize that the technological revolution in AI is accelerating, increasingly reorganizing the world economy, and reshaping global supply chains. We believe that economic value and growth will flow through and across all levels of the global AI supply chain, driving historic opportunity and demand for energy, critical minerals, manufacturing, technological hardware, infrastructure, and new markets not yet invented.

...

so yes the Philippines is pushing this plan: 

We have the resources of our workers, who right now are forced to migrate to other countries to find work. This will allow this talent to stay here and find jobs.

Under this framework, the country is advancing the proposed AI-Native Industrial Acceleration Hub in New Clark City, a flagship project that brings together AI, infrastructure, and high-value industries.

Yup.  Clark city, where there was a US base until politics asked the US to close it and Mt Pinatubo covered it with ash.

Our lovely ex president Gloria comes from that area and has been investing in roads, and infrastructure for years.

Clark industrial zone, was created, roads and rail connected it to other areas, and an alternative airport was opened there in Pampanga, which was traditionally a very poor area of the Philippines.

so what about our area?

well, we grow rice, and thanks to land reform small farmers now own their fields. 

The problem? They remain poor but educated their kids, and the kids don't want to be small farmers. 

So to work our fields we imported workers from Joy's area in the Visayas.

But for several years even though we are organic, profit is small because of the high  price of fertilizer   (after 2022, the prices went up because of the Ukraine war, and potash comes from the Ukraine) and now things are worse, with oil prices up, meaning the price for fertilizer going up, and diesel for farm machinery also going up, and unlike 25 years ago when I first came here, we no longer have farmers willing to plow with water buffalo (they are used for milk now) or harvest by hand (we rent a harvester thresher to bring in the crop).

Allowing people to own large amounts of land and mechanize it using modern seeds and machines would be the answer, but the Govt policy is to encourage small farmers to grow organic rice, which can be sold at a higher profit than traditional rice, which is in competition with other countries that have lower wages for farms.

this preserves the culture and is better for the land of course, so Joy is involved in this outreach in nearby Bulacan.

The good news is that the Philippines is wise enough to promote policies that benefit the small farmer while pushing modernization.

But things are changing.

 

Since farmers can't make much of a profit due to the high price of diesel and fertilizer, some are not planting, especially for the winter dry season harvest where you have to pay for irrigation fees.

so what is going on here is that a lot of local farmers were digging and panning for gold in the unused fields rather than lose money planting winter rice... whether or not they will plant for the main harvest is a big question: We will plant our low lying fields that don't use irrigation, but probably let the higher fields lie fallow. Sigh.

 which brings up another economic change in our area.

The large solar farm is being built on fields here. And yes, what this commercial says is true: many of our farmers and local folk are busy working for this project.

          

so lots of optimistic propaganda out there looking for investments:

 The main problem is corruption of course, but one can only hope workers used to honest work (e.g. working overseas or belonging to Evangelical churches that stress honesty and hard work) will be able to support their families.

S