TRADE Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo on Friday said the country wants to join the advanced technology supply chain group Pax Silica.
Founded in December 2025, the group — which combines the Latin name pax (for peace, stability or prosperity) and silica (the material refined into silicon for computer chips) — is a United States-led alliance aiming to build a secure, prosperous and innovation-driven silicon supply chain, from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and logistics.
Its members include Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
Rodolfo, speaking to reporters at the Building Economic Security through Strengthened Canada-Philippines Partnership event, explained the country’s interest in joining Pax Silica.
“It rests on two pillars. One is the critical mineral space. [We need] to have a secure supply of rare earth elements for defense and high-technology industries. The second pillar is AI and digital infrastructure. [We need] critical minerals to produce equipment components for digital infrastructure,” Rodolfo said.
The country is also open to a bilateral critical minerals agreement with Canada, Rodolfo said, noting that the government has been implementing measures to open the Philippines’ mining industry to investors, with a new mining fiscal regime introduced last year.
In February, the Philippines and the US signed an agreement to develop the domestic critical minerals and rare earths sector.
A draft executive order for a critical minerals framework is due for signing by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the coming weeks, said Environment Undersecretary Carlos Primo David, who also attended the Canada-PH event.
The policy would reduce the permit process for mining operations, David said.
Under the current system, it takes up to two years before the Department of Environment and Natural Resources could release a mining permit, granted that other permits from local government units and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples had been secured.
“We want [the process] to be less than a year,” David said.
