Repositioning

Last week, President Marcos went for a brief trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

- ALEX MAGNO

The highlight of that trip was the ceremonial signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between our two countries.Most Filipinos see the UAE as a host country for our migrant workers. Beyond migrant labor, there seems to be little between us by way of trade.

But there is a new world order emerging and the Philippines is rapidly repositioning for a more advantageous place in it. The key phrase in the CEPA is “digital frontier.”

From being largely an exporter of our excess labor, the Philippines is now aspiring to be a regional hub for high-density computing and artificial intelligence (AI). Although we barely have the energy generation capacity at the moment to support a major push as a nexus for data storage, we do have a strong digitally-capable workforce to man this emerging industry.

High-capacity data processing is also an energy intensive sector. Our bet to become a data storage and processing hub eventually rests on our ability to quickly expand our generation capacity - especially in renewable energy (RE). The province of Laguna is quickly becoming a powerhouse for green energy production - the failure of Leandro Leviste to deliver on his solar power commitments notwithstanding.

Shortly after the signing of the CEPA - witnessed by President Marcos and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan - the Philippine delegation met with executives of the Dubai-based DAMAC Digital. The company plans investing in a 250-megawatt data center in Laguna. When it becomes operational, this facility will become the largest data center in the country.