Pax Silica means peace. In the Philippines, it’s a fight

Outside the Grand Hyatt hotel in Manila earlier this year, five people were arrested as hundreds of activists chanting “Junk Pax Silica!” clashed with anti-riot police. Inside, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr hobnobbed with some 600 investors, industry leaders and officials at a US-sponsored forum, urging them to sink their money into the US-led scheme. The Philippines is planning to build a sprawling 1,620-hectare (4,000-acre) “Pax Silica” technology hub near a former American...