Real Estate

Pax Silica backlash, ecozone lift, and real estate signals

The day's conversation was dominated by public mockery of VP Sara Duterte's silence on the Pax Silica AI hub in New Clark City, while policy wins like the lifting of the Metro Manila ecozone moratorium and corporate moves by Rockwell Land and Ayala Corp. signaled real estate sector momentum.

By the MMI Real Estate Desk

The conversation on July 29, 2026, was split between a viral political controversy that drew widespread public mockery and a series of substantive policy and corporate developments that signaled [real estate sector momentum](https://media-meter.com/real-estate-industry-report "Real estate industry report"). The dominant story by engagement was the public reaction to Vice President Sara Duterte's refusal to comment on the [Pax Silica initiative](https://media-meter.com/report-library/pax-silica-pag-ibig-and-flood-risk-real-estates-three-fronts "Pax silica pag ibig and flood risk real estates three fronts"), a US-backed project to build an artificial intelligence and semiconductor supply chain hub in New Clark City, Tarlac. A Facebook post by a major media outlet reporting her non-comment accumulated 104 likes, 77 shares, 515 comments, and an extraordinary 1,650 "haha" reactions, indicating that users found the situation absurd or humorous rather than expressing outright anger. On Twitter, the same story drew only 2 comments and 2,105 views, showing that the conversation was overwhelmingly concentrated on Facebook. The volume of laughing reactions suggests that the public views the project's political backing with skepticism, a perception that could affect investor and buyer confidence in New Clark City developments.

Meanwhile, the news media coverage on the same day was dominated by a different set of stories. The lifting of the seven-year moratorium on new information technology (IT) ecozones in Metro Manila, formalized through Administrative Order No. 45, was widely covered as a major win for the IT-BPM sector and real estate developers. [Trade Secretary Cristina Roque](https://media-meter.com/report-library/dti-pushes-to-lift-metro-manila-ecozone-ban-jollibee-eyes-provincial-growth-and "Dti pushes to lift metro manila ecozone ban jollibee eyes provincial growth and") announced that five IT parks have pending applications with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), including Ayala Land's ARCA South 1 in Taguig and Aseana Holdings' Parqal in Parañaque. The IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) welcomed the move, saying it gives investors greater confidence to expand in the capital region. Separately, Rockwell Land Corp. secured a P15-billion term loan facility from the [Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)](https://media-meter.com/report-library/bpis-permanent-fee-waiver-and-gcashs-record-ipo-reshape-philippine-digital-banki "Bpis permanent fee waiver and gcashs record ipo reshape philippine digital banki") to finance capital expenditures and expansion, particularly in the horizontal housing segment where recent launches have driven record reservation sales of P25 billion in 2025. Ayala Corp. also bought P630 million worth of additional shares in its property unit Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI), signaling confidence in the developer's value amid market volatility.

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