‘Digital Pilipinas: a Closer Look at the Philippine Sandbox’, a movement that aims to influence change through technology and innovation across the local and global spheres was launched last week by government and industry leaders from both the Philippines and Singapore.
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Chief FinTech Officer Sopnendu Mohanty, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez, and Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez all expressed their support for a more technologically-capable and innovation-driven digital landscape in the Philippines and across the ASEAN region.
Digital Pilipinas, the movement, has a 12-point agenda to provide solutions to overcome challenges within the Philippine industry and economic ecosystem, and introduces a method to leverage on ICT-driven opportunities. The 12-point agenda covers fintech, govtech, and regtech; proptech; digital transformation; overseas filipino banking; future of mobility; insuretech; e-commerce; cyber security; internet of energy; future of education; digital cities; and gaming.
“Innovations are being spearheaded in the sandbox of Asia. We need to do more than just raise our innovation quotient as a country and as a people to remain competitive. More importantly, we need to demand a technology and innovation quotient from our future leaders,” Digital Pilipinas Convenor Amor Maclang said
In his keynote speech, Mohanty said we must ensure that the sandbox will benefit all the citizens for public good.
“We are promoting technology for people to progress, so the public good is important to make the sandbox successful. If there’s one market in Asia which has the biggest potential to completely transform, it’s the Philippines,” Mohanty said.
Lopez supported this in his keynote speech and said that before the pandemic, the government has already been utilizing digitalization to push the ease of doing business.
“The adoption of e-commerce facilitated the digital transformation of business. The government remains committed to its role in enabling different stakeholders in our country to ensure our people benefits in ecommerce,” Lopez said.
“Our economies will need to adjust to modern technologies if they want to remain viable. Even before the pandemic, the Philippine government encouraged the rapid rise of FinTech in our country, and our revenue agencies have fully embraced digitalization,” Dominguez said.
With the theme, ‘A Whole of Nation, Whole of Society Approach for Technology and Innovation’, the panel discussion was led by Global Impact FinTech (GIFT) Co-Founder and Chairman Malik Kotadia. He was joined by Mohanty, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Director Ace Alvaro, DTI Asec. Mary Jean Pacheco, AFIN/APIX: ASEAN Financial Innovation Network Director Pieter Franken, and Overseas Filipino Bank President and CEO Leila Martin in an engaging discussion about the importance of technology and innovation as a means for national progress and prosperity.
The first segment of the fireside chat led by Maclang and FinTech Philippines Trustee Ida Tiongson gathered innovation market leaders in an engaging discussion about how they are dealing with industry issues and challenges and how they are pushing boundaries through tech. They shared how they applied what they learned from the transformation of their companies to the tech development of their industries to make it even more competitive.
They were joined by Dragonpay President Robertson “Dick” Chiang; MYNT Chief Customer Officer Winsley Bangit; Insular Life First Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Gwendolyn Kelley; KPMG in the Philippines Head of Cybersecurity and IT Advisory Jallain Manrique; Union Bank of the Philippines Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology and Operations Officer Henry Aguda; and Tier One Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Tryke Gutierrez.
