THE REAL issue is not whether the member nations are pursuing their own national interests. Every nation does. The United States, under President Trump’s “America First” agenda, has been quite explicit about strengthening American leadership in AI, semiconductors, and critical supply chains. China likewise pursues its own strategic interests. That is the reality of international politics.
The question for the Philippines is different.
Will Pax Silica help build Filipino scientific capability, technological innovation, and industrial resilience? Or will it primarily serve the strategic interests of others while Filipinos provide the land, natural resources, water, energy, tax incentives, and labor?
These are legitimate questions—not because we oppose foreign investment, but because genuine partnership should strengthen the nation that hosts it.
Prudence therefore requires transparency, technology transfer, meaningful participation of Filipino scientists and industries, responsible stewardship of the environment, and a clear commitment to moving our country up the value chain rather than remaining merely a source of raw materials and cheap labor.
Yet the Church is called to raise an even deeper question.
In Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that the decisive issue is not what artificial intelligence can do, but what kind of human beings we are becoming. Technology must remain the servant of humanity, never its master.
And in Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis reminds us that humanity cannot build its future on the logic of competing national interests alone. The return of the logic of “might makes right” has repeatedly led humanity to conflict and war. The digital revolution must not become another arena where technological power is used for domination rather than cooperation.
The Catholic Church, as a communion of local Churches that transcends national borders, remains one of the few truly global institutions capable of offering a moral vision that rises above geopolitical rivalries. She does not ask nations to abandon their legitimate interests, but to place them at the service of the common good of the entire human family.
The ultimate question, therefore, is not simply whether Pax Silica will make economies stronger or artificial intelligence more powerful.
The real question is whether it will help build what Pope Leo calls a civilization of love rather than a culture of power—a future in which technological progress serves human dignity, social fraternity, care for our common home, and peace among nations.
