Unrest in Philippines threatens to upend US backed data centers

Protests against widespread state corruption have flooded the Philippines in recent weeks, putting pressure on the leadership of a country that for years has been one of the United States’ closest military and commercial allies in Southeast Asia. The domestic turmoil threatens to shake up the U.S.-Philippines partnership, particularly given that American-funded data center projects under President Donald Trump’s Pax Silica initiative are among the targets of the protesters’ rage. On September 21, 2026, President Ferdinand Marcos — whose national trust rating sits at just 28% — put the presiden