Why our 'analog' regional structures will fail the Al economy

The country has taken great strides to make the citizen experience today more convenient by putting government transactions at the fingertips of everyone who has a smartphone.

- TECH4GOOD FORMER DICT UNDERSECRETARY MON B. IBRAHIM

We are finally catching up with our ASEAN neighbors.However, when you visit any major city in the Philippines today, you will likely see different signs of digital progress. New cell towers rising above coconut trees, mayors cutting ribbons for "Free WiFi" zones in plazas, and perhaps a press release about a new shipment of laptops for the local government unit.

On the surface, it looks like the Philippine countryside is digitizing. But look closer. You will likely find that the "digital" data on farm yields is trapped in a spreadsheet on a single computer, inaccessible to the trade office next door. Visit a rural health unit, and you will see patient records that are digitally encoded but cannot be shared with the nearby provincial hospital.

We are building "Digital Islands" connected by fiber optics but separated by an even deeper barrier: antiquated structures.

The Philippines is standing at the edge of a historic shift. The global economy is being reshaped by artificial intelligence, automation, and data-driven decision-making. Yet in our countryside, most of the institutions tasked with preparing communities for this future remain stuck in structures and mindsets designed for a bygone era. They are becoming the single biggest chokehold on our progress. They continue to treat Digital Transformation (DX) as a hardware project rather than a survival strategy. Unless we act decisively, these outdated organizations with outdated mindsets will become structures that stifle innovation and hold back regions from participating in the AI economy.