A PUBLIC consultation meeting between a proponent for an artificial intelligence (AI) data center project and citizens and the local government of Oton, Iloilo, went horribly wrong on Aug. 14, when the project’s representative stormed out of the meeting and later cursed journalists trying to ask follow-up questions outside. Although the powers-that-be in the government and among big business groups anxious to see the Philippines grow and profit from the new “AI era” of industrial development have been quick to