August 12, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Each State of the Nation Deal with (SONA) is greater than a yearly ritual. It’s a mirror held as much as the nation’s current and a blueprint for the trail ahead.
It displays the priorities of the best workplace, units the tone for coverage path and sends alerts to native and worldwide stakeholders alike. For the private and non-private sectors, the SONA is each a progress report and a problem: The place are we now, and the place do we have to go subsequent?
President Marcos 2025 SONA touched on essential points, from social welfare and financial restoration to digital transformation. As we consider his pronouncements, we should additionally ask: Are we creating a very inclusive digital economic system? Are we securing our cyber borders? Are we investing in infrastructure that empowers each Filipino?
These questions are central to fintech’s mission. Earlier than the SONA, I had a wishlist I hoped President Marcos would handle, as a result of these are the digital mandates we urgently have to construct a secure, accessible and environment friendly tech-enabled future for all Filipinos.
The President emphasised expanded authorities digital providers, together with the eGov app and widened WiFi entry. These are essential beneficial properties, however with no sturdy cybersecurity infrastructure, these advances can pose vulnerabilities.
I’m renewing the decision for the institution of a Nationwide Cybersecurity Council. We’d like a government that coordinates throughout businesses, facilitates real-time risk intelligence sharing, enforces minimal cybersecurity requirements and leads incident response. Nations which have centralized cybersecurity governance have been faster to include and recuperate from assaults. That is non-negotiable in a digital-first world.
It is usually time to cross the Vital Info Infrastructure (CII) Safety Act. Finance, telecommunications, transport, vitality and well being care techniques are the veins of a digital economic system. A authorized mandate that protects these techniques by way of baseline safety requirements and accountability measures is overdue. Our monetary system, particularly, is more and more uncovered to cross-border threats. We can’t afford complacency.
Lastly, the Open Finance-Enabled eKYC Registry Legislation is essential. Anchored on PhilSys, this is able to construct a unified, interoperable buyer verification system throughout monetary establishments. It simplifies onboarding for shoppers, strengthens anti-fraud measures and creates a basis for full interoperability in digital finance. The BSP’s Open Finance Framework can solely be totally realized if there’s legislative assist that harmonizes identification verification by way of a safe, nationwide registry.
However at the very least we’re seeing the start of a citizen-enabled digital authorities. The President reported that greater than 40 authorities providers at the moment are obtainable on the eGov app, from driver’s license renewal to transactions with PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG. This can be a optimistic step towards lowering purple tape, bettering comfort and growing authorities accessibility.
To construct on this momentum, we have to push for full interoperability throughout businesses, AI-powered providers for predictive supply and stronger cybersecurity to safeguard delicate citizen information. Simply as necessary, the person expertise should be intuitive, multilingual and optimized for low-bandwidth areas to make sure true digital fairness.
We’re additionally on the beginning path to monetary mobility. President Marcos famous that 1.5 million households have “graduated” from the 4Ps conditional money switch program and that over 5 million households have benefited beneath his time period. His proposal to amend the regulation to present households extra time to develop into economically self-reliant is pragmatic.
However commencement shouldn’t be the top of presidency assist, it ought to mark the start of economic inclusion. We should proceed to embed digital finance into social safety applications, permitting beneficiaries to obtain cashless disbursements, entry micro-loans and construct transaction histories that qualify them for formal monetary providers.
The President additionally made a convincing name to world traders, saying, “The Philippines is prepared.” Readiness, nevertheless, goes past intent; it requires infrastructure, coverage readability and execution.
We urge the federal government to fast-track regulatory sandboxes for fintech improvements, scale back friction in international fairness participation in digital ventures and strengthen public-private collaboration in upskilling the digital workforce. Digital belief is the foreign money of worldwide funding. If we lead in cybersecurity and interoperability, we’ll lead in competitiveness.
Low-interest, collateral-free loans for MSMEs, farmers and fisherfolk have been once more highlighted within the SONA. This can be a welcome transfer. However implementation should be digital-first and data-driven. We hope to broaden fintech-powered credit score scoring fashions to incorporate various information like utility funds, cellular top-ups and transaction histories. These permit the unbanked and underbanked to entry credit score with dignity and adaptability.
Lastly, the President reported a large enlargement in free public WiFi (from 4,000 websites to just about 19,000 since 2022) and introduced the distribution of 1 million SIM playing cards with free information. Nonetheless, the revelation that 12,000 faculties stay with out web is jarring.
Web entry is not a luxurious; it’s a human proper, particularly in schooling. To satisfy his directive of full connectivity by year-end, we urge the Division of Info and Communications Expertise (DICT) to associate with telcos, satellite tv for pc suppliers and native tech startups to attain last-mile connectivity.
President Marcos’ trajectory appears promising. He acknowledges that the digital economic system is the brand new engine of Filipino prosperity, however solely whether it is safe, interoperable, inclusive and people-centered. Allow us to work collectively — authorities, personal sector and civil society — to maneuver from blanket options to precision-targeted, tech-enabled solutions for each Juan.
Lito Villanueva is the Philippines’ main and award-winning thought chief in inclusive digital finance. As EVP and chief innovation and inclusion officer at RCBC, he has led a number of digital initiatives at scale. He’s additionally the founding chairman of Fintech Alliance PH, overseeing 95 p.c of the nation’s digital retail monetary transactions. He’s the primary world chairman of the South Africa-based Alliance of Digital Finance Associations, a co-founder of the Asia FinTech Alliance and a everlasting council member of the ASEAN FinTech Discussion board. He has considerably impacted the fintech panorama within the Philippines by way of his management and progressive efforts. His contributions have been essential in advancing the fintech ecosystem within the Philippines, making monetary providers extra inclusive and environment friendly. He was lately acknowledged as amongst Individuals Asia’s 2025 Males Who Matter.