Filipino tech is a matter of survival

I write this as someone who has lived the difficult journey of building local technology in a country where foreign companies often dominate the landscape. I have seen how global platforms can shape entire industries and control who rises and who falls. I have seen how digital systems created elsewhere can decide prices, dictate terms and define the rules of competition even on our own soil. And I have seen how much harder it is for Filipino entrepreneurs to grow when the playing field is tilted toward giants with endless capital and virtually unlimited reach.

- BY MISTER ANGKAS GEORGE ROYECA

The digital economy has quietly become the backbone of modern life. It powers how we move, how we shop, how we work and how we communicate. It runs our transport networks, our logistics systems, our e-commerce platforms, our payments infrastructure and many of our essential services. It is now as important as food security, energy and national defense. Yet despite its importance, most of this critical infrastructure is owned and operated by companies that are not from here. Their priorities are different. Their strategies are not shaped by our needs. Their profits do not circulate within our communities. And their long-term objectives do not include the development of Filipino capability.

When foreign companies dominate essential digital industries, we do not simply lose market share. We lose the opportunity to build our own champions. We lose the chance to create high value jobs for Filipino developers, engineers and data scientists. We lose the ability to train our people in the skills that define the future. And we slowly lose control over the systems that run both our old and new economy.