Does Dr. Giovanni Tapang of AGHAM Understanding How FDI Works?

Let me be clear that not everyone against Pax Silica is automatically against FDI. Right now, my stance is yes to a revised Pax Silica where one may consider selecting areas that would definitely not harm the environment or indigenous people. Some people seek a more balanced view of Pax Silica. It's August 4, 2026, today. Sometimes, I require time to process ideas or responses. Right now, I want to tackle the Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (also known as AGHAM ) spokesperson, Dr. Giovanni Tapang, and his response to Pax Silica. From what I heard, AGHAM is actually affiliated with Bagong Alansyang Makayaban (BAYAN), which openly supports the MAKABAYAN Bloc. 

As it's already August, it's easy to think of August not just as Buwan ng Wika, but it tends to make National Heritage Month feel nonexistent. This would be a good post to start the month of August 2026. 

Focusing on Tapang's statement on Pax Silica first

Now, I'd like to tackle what Tapang said last July 31, 2026, that Pax Silica supposedly has "no technology transfer," which he mentioned on GMA News:

Pax Silica will take up large amounts of the country’s water and energy without leaving any technology to the Philippines, scientists’ group Agham said on Friday.

On Balitanghali, Agham spokesperson Giovanni Tapang said their group rejected the Pax Silica initiative because it brought no genuine progress.

“Walang nakasulat dito na technology transfer. Walang nakasulat dito na magiging sa atin 'yung mga technologies na nandiyan. Tayo ay magpaparenta lang ng lupa, tayo ay pupuntahan nila para i-process dito 'yung mga minerals dito pero iiwan din sa atin 'yung mga waste,” Tapang said.

(There is nothing written here about technology transfer, nothing written here about the technologies being created there becoming ours. We are renting out the land; they will come here to process minerals and they will leave the waste here.)

“It will use a lot of water, it will use a lot of electricity: is this the kind of progress that we want?” he added in Filipino.

Tapang also questioned the government’s claim that around 130,000 jobs will be created. When it comes to building the actual facilities, that number made sense. However, actual data centers do not require that many people to maintain it.

Moreover, will the workers of Pax Silica actually create things that benefitted other Filipinos? Tapang doubted it.

“It will make mineral processing, and we will export the final process. We will not use and create the chips,” Tapang said in Filipino.

Tapang likened it to Intel Philippines, an electronic firm that established operations with the promise of turning the country into an electronics giant. But the company ceased its operations and left without any technology transfer, he said.

It also begged the question why the government did not try to at least negotiate for the Philippines to take ownership of Pax Silica’s technology, Tapang said.

The government has staunchly defended the Pax Silica initiative despite mounting concerns from activist and environmental groups. It claims that Pax Silica will mainly use renewable energy, but many have decried the lack of transparency surrounding the process.

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This makes me think that perhaps because Singapore signed into Pax Silica, the Makabayan Bloc and its affiliates are allergic to it.  However, these Flor Contemplacion crybabies have been spreading the fake news since 1995 and it's already 2026. It makes me think that I can be pro-Singapore while opposing Pax Silica for other reasons, even if I want to court FDIs like Apple, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, etc. to provide jobs for Filipinos.

Does Tapang understand basic economics?  

I'm not going to dismiss Tapang's statement on concerns for massive amounts of electrical usage. However, as I thought about Tapang being part of Makabayan Bloc, I can go against Pax Silica without going with Makabayan Bloc. Right now, I dug up an interesting statement from Tapang way back in 2007, which might reveal his way of thinking:

“The government’s track of depending on foreign investments and exporting our agricultural products and raw materials is stunting the growth of local industries. These local industries could have benefited from the expertise of Filipino scientists and at the same time provided them with opportunities where they can exercise their knowledge and skills”, said Dr. Tapang.

“Even if you increase the DOST budget and produce a lot of research output, if the only companies that will be able to use them are foreign-owned and controlled, there will be no direct benefit for the Filipino people from our scientists’ discoveries”, explained Dr. Tapang.

“Take for example the current drive for foreign investments in mining, where most of the activities involve only extractive activities for export with very little processing. If we had local downstream industries to process these ores then we would be able to add more value to our products and use it to build structures for our nation’s benefit”, Dr. Tapang asserted.

“One crucial factor that keeps our science and technology stunted is our dependence on imported goods and the export orientation of our industries which does not leave a place for a highly trained scientist to flourish”, stressed Dr. Tapang.

“We cannot just increase the number of our scholars without ensuring that there are local industries that will absorb them. Going abroad or working for foreign companies becomes a default since the government has surrendered our economy to foreign interests”, lamented Dr. Tapang.

Is it me or is Tapang actually blaming FDI for the increase in OFWs? If anything, it was actually the Filipino First Policy that caused people to work abroad. Tapang's analysis is flawed on so many levels. I must even wonder if Tapang has even bothered to understand how Singapore progressed or even how Vietnam actually progressed? Vietnam never progressed through isolation first before opening up. Instead, Vietnam opened up the country in December 1986 with Doi Moi. 

In fact, I even wonder if Tapang himself noticed that Vietnam has become an FDI magnet vs. the Philippines. In reality, Vietnam decided to ignore ideological purity and went for Doi Moi, or restoration. Vietnam went all the way from isolationism to prosperity through the 1986 reform. Meanwhile, the Philippines went for the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines' installation of Article XII, which makes it harder to amend any ownership or protectionist restrictions when needed. 

Instead, Andrew James Masigan of Business World also wrote this sad warning that many ignored:

The restrictive provisions of the constitution have held back the country’s development for more than 30 years. From the 1980s up to the close of the century, countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand leapfrogged economically on the back of a deluge foreign direct investments (FDIs). During that period, the Philippines share of regional FDIs was a paltry 3% in good years and 2% in normal years. The flawed economic laws of the constitution are largely to blame for this. Lately, Vietnam has taken the lion’s share of FDIs, leaving the Philippines in the dust.

See, embedded in the 1987 constitutions is a list of industries in which foreigners are precluded from participation. These industries include agriculture, public utilities, transportation, retail, construction, media, and education, among others. (For those unaware, these industries are collectively known as “the negative list”). Apart from depriving the country of forex investments, technology transfer and job opportunities, the lack of competition from abroad has created monopolies and oligopolies owned by a handful of families. These families earn scandalous profits even though they are inefficient.

Our flawed economic laws are the reason why our agricultural sector has not industrialized and why food security eludes us. It is why our manufacturing sector has not fully developed. It is why we lost the opportunity to be Asia’s entertainment and production capital despite our Americanized culture (Netflix located its Asian headquarters in Singapore, Disney in Malaysia, MTV in Hong Kong, and Paramount Studios in Taiwan). It is why our education standards have remained embarrassingly behind the rest of the world.

The constitution limits foreigners from owning more than 40% equity share in corporations. In addition, foreigners are barred from owning land. These provisions have caused us to lose-out on big-ticket investments which would have made all the difference in job and revenue generation. Not too long ago, we lost a multi-billion dollar investment from a US auto manufacturing company which instead went to Thailand. We lost a multi-billion smartphone plant by Samsung which went to Vietnam. Limiting equity ownership to a minority stake and prohibiting land ownership is a great disincentive for companies investing in large manufacturing plants with a useful life of more than 50 years. Land is used as equity for business financing and to take this away from the business model is enough reason for investors to take their business elsewhere.

I wonder if Tapang has ever considered all that. The real reason why more Filipinos are going abroad isn't that the Filipino government has "sold out" to foreigners but because of the constitutional limits that prevented FDIs from investing in the Philippines. 

I must wonder if Tapang himself has even heard of the regulation of FDI? FDI can be regulated through legislation such as environmental laws (which can be used to regulate Pax Silica), taxation laws, employment laws, and that leasing land means there are obligations to follow? This makes me think that some people are still stuck in the Vietnam War mindset, while Vietnam is now stuck with the Doi Moi mindset.