“Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you—for you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.” (Habakkuk 2:8 NIV)
September is a significant month for peace. September 21 is the United Nations International Day of Peace, while September 1, 1992, marked the signing of the Hague Joint Declaration between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). This short declaration provides the overall framework for the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations; that it “shall be held to resolve the armed conflict” and that “the common goal … shall be the attainment of a just and lasting peace.” It called for holding the negotiations “in accord with mutually acceptable principles of sovereignty, democracy, and social justice.” It set the substantive agenda and the proper sequence of tackling the agenda of the formal peace negotiations as follows: 1) respect for human rights and international humanitarian law; 2) socioeconomic reforms; 3) political and constitutional reforms; and 4) end of hostilities and disposition of forces.
On August 1, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) announced that the government remains open to peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army–National Democratic Front (CPP–NPA–NDF) and other armed groups. However, this posture to dialogue remains to be just a posture to excite the people rather than an actual negotiation. The trajectory of Philippines politics leans towards the deepening crisis of unpeace. Widespread militarization, political repression, economic exploitation, ecological destruction, and increasing U.S. intervention continue to fuel conflict and insecurity. These realities undermine national sovereignty and erode the dignity, rights, and well being of the Filipino people.
In his State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. unashamedly highlighted Pax Silica, a U.S.- led international coalition launched in December 2025 to secure global supply chains for semiconductors, critical minerals, and artificial intelligence infrastructure. The initiative seeks to reduce dependence on China by consolidating access to strategic resources and manufacturing capacities among its member states, including the Philippines.
Central to this initiative is the planned establishment of a 1,620-hectare advanced manufacturing zone in Central Luzon, envisioned as a major hub for semiconductor and high-technology production. Government agencies have promoted the project as a source of hundreds of thousands of jobs and investments. However, these promises are accompanied by serious concerns raised by communities, environmental advocates, and people’s organizations.
The project threatens to displace farming and Indigenous communities, accelerate the extraction of critical minerals, consume enormous amounts of water and electricity, intensify environmental degradation, and increase pressure for expanded energy generation, including dependence on fossil fuels or nuclear energy. Beyond its economic dimensions, Pax Silica is also viewed as part of a broader geopolitical strategy that integrates the Philippines into the strategic competition between the United States and China.
The Filipino people know from historical and continuing experience the devastating consequences of foreign economic domination, political interference, and military intervention. Historically, such initiatives labeled with “Pax” by the empire have been linked to systems of domination and control. The promotion of Pax Silica reflects a development model that prioritizes external strategic interests in the midst of clash of empires, over the rights, welfare, and aspirations of the Filipino people. It reinforces a pattern in which national resources, labor, and territory are increasingly aligned with the priorities of powerful states rather than the pursuit of genuine national development and self-determination of the Filipino people.
With the country’s decades-long internal armed conflict remains unresolved, amidst foreign domination and incursion, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP), continue to push for peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the CPP–NPA–NDF. This remains the most viable and less costly path toward addressing the root causes of armed conflict—landlessness, poverty, economic inequality, elite domination, even in the amidst of foreign intervention and subservience.
Instead of pursuing comprehensive reforms through negotiations, successive administrations have relied primarily on militarized counterinsurgency campaigns, resulting in widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Although thirty-seven agreements, including the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), have been signed, formal peace negotiations remained stalled since 2017.
As people of faith, we are called to witness to God’s vision of peace where justice and righteousness embrace. The prophet Isaiah reminds us of God’s dream that “they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4). In the particularity of the unpeace we Filipinos experience, this prophetic vision calls the churches to reason together, pray for peace, and discern where the Spirit leads us.
Objectives:
This year’s Day of Prayer for JustPeace in the Philippines seeks to:
- Learn together from communities deeply experiencing militarization the growing realities of imperial rivalries on mineral resources such as Pax Silica that results in heightened violation of human rights in communities.
- Discern together the resumption of meaningful GRP-NDFP peace negotiations as a just and peaceful means of resolving the roots of armed conflict.
- Mobilize the churches’ prophetic witness in promoting justice, peace, human rights, and the Filipino people’s right to self-determination.
In the face of deepening unpeace amidst clashing empires, we reaffirm that God’s peace is rooted in justice, truth, compassion, and the liberation of peoples. Together, let us continue to pray and work together so that the Philippines may become a nation where peace is an experience reality for all.
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