ILOILO CITY — Western Visayas is putting ethical governance at the center of its artificial intelligence agenda, with government, academe and industry leaders using the “AI Speaks” forum at the 2026 AI Fest to examine how the region can advance AI adoption while protecting human dignity, accountability and public trust.

AI Speaks 2026 brought together a strong cross-section of government, academe, industry, and business leadership, beginning with Herminio L. Maravilla, Chairman of the Iloilo Business Club, Inc., and Jay Treñas, who represented Iloilo City Mayor Raisa S. Treñas-Chu during the opening program. The policy and strategic discussions featured DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr., Dr. Christopher P. Monterola of the Asian Institute of Management, Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue of the Philippine ICT Innovation Network and DIWA, and Ma. Corazon Halili-Dichosa of Industry Development Services, with Ken A. Lerona moderating the panel on national-to-regional direction, governance, and industrial positioning. The corporate governance and accountability segment featured Romeo Fernando Aquino Jr. of Camalig Bank and the Institute of Corporate Directors, together with Jennifer Jane G. Echevarria of Globe Telecom, and Jerry Ilao of Tellix AI Institute, again with Villaluna moderating. The forum concluded with Ma. Luisa C. Segovia, President of the Iloilo Business Club, Inc., delivering the Business Adaptation Policy Statement, and Engr. Rowen R. Gelonga, Regional Director of DOST Western Visayas, providing the closing direction on how Western Visayas can move forward in building a more resilient, innovative, and AI-ready regional economy.

Framed around the Department of Science and Technology’s vision of delivering “science that is felt”—technology that produces tangible and meaningful improvements in people’s lives—the session focused on the governance structures and human safeguards needed as AI becomes increasingly embedded in public administration, education, business and other high-impact sectors.

A major discussion centered on the Western Visayas AI Governance and Ethics Policy 2025–2030, presented by Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, convenor of the Philippine ICT Innovation Network. The policy is intended to guide public administration, state universities and private-sector partners whose AI applications may have significant public impact.

Batapa-Sigue presented the policy principles through her EUREKA Framework, which translates ethical AI governance into six practical standards: Ethical, prioritizing human dignity; Understandable, emphasizing transparency; Responsible, requiring mindful and responsible application; Equitable, promoting access across socioeconomic and geographic lines; Knowledge-Based, grounding decisions in research and evidence; and Accountable, maintaining clear human oversight and responsibility.

The governance approach places particular emphasis on high-risk applications, including those that may affect healthcare, welfare eligibility, law enforcement and other areas where automated systems can influence rights, safety or access to critical services. Such applications require stronger safeguards, including impact assessments, appropriate review mechanisms, clearly defined human intervention and accountability.

Batapa-Sigue stressed that technological capability alone does not determine whether AI produces positive economic or social outcomes.

“Technology creates capability, but governance dictates whether it generates legitimate public value,” she said, underscoring the principle that “AI may assist, but humans remain responsible.”

The distinction is becoming increasingly important as organizations move from experimenting with generative AI and automation toward integrating AI into actual institutional and business processes. While AI can improve speed, productivity and decision support, the responsibility for consequential decisions cannot be transferred to an algorithm.

The forum also examined the human costs that may emerge when organizations focus narrowly on efficiency.

Batapa-Sigue’s session followed the national AI framing of DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. and the education and policy discussion of Dr. Christopher P. Monterola, before moving into the industry and competitiveness perspective of Ma. Corazon Halili-Dichosa. The sequencing placed the Western Visayas policy directly between national direction and industrial positioning, making governance part of the competitiveness discussion rather than a separate compliance issue.

Dr. Francis D. Dimzon of the University of the Philippines Visayas raised the issue of the “productivity paradox,” or the risk that the pursuit of greater efficiency through AI could come at the expense of critical thinking and mental well-being.

AI was discussed as a socio-technical system that learns from human-generated data and can consequently reproduce existing biases and institutional weaknesses if it is not actively governed.

The discussion characterized AI as a mirror that can reveal weaknesses already present in education and institutions. Poor data, weak critical-thinking practices or inadequate accountability structures can be amplified rather than corrected by automation.

The response, participants noted, requires an “analog recalibration”—renewed investment in distinctly human capabilities such as empathy, deep reasoning and ethical judgment, particularly as machines become increasingly capable of performing routine cognitive tasks.

This human-centered perspective was reinforced by DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr., who emphasized that national and regional AI implementation should ultimately be about building more resilient citizens rather than simply making machines more intelligent.

The message places AI readiness within a broader development context. For regions and institutions, readiness is not determined solely by access to advanced platforms or infrastructure, but by the ability of people and organizations to use those technologies responsibly, understand their limitations and remain accountable for their consequences.

Panelists from government, academe and industry, including representatives from major enterprises such as Globe Telecom and corporate boards, also emphasized that clear governance guardrails should not be viewed as barriers to innovation.

Instead, well-defined standards on accountability, transparency, human oversight and responsible use can create the safe and trusted environment needed for technology to scale responsibly.

For businesses and public institutions, the strategic implication is significant. As AI becomes more accessible, trust and governance are likely to become increasingly important components of successful adoption. Organizations that can clearly define responsibility, manage risk and maintain public and stakeholder confidence will be better positioned to move from experimentation to sustained use.

The AI Speaks discussion therefore placed Western Visayas’ AI agenda beyond the question of how quickly the region can adopt new technologies and toward the more consequential question of how those technologies should be governed once they begin affecting institutions, markets and people.

Through the regional AI Governance and Ethics Policy and the practical EUREKA framework used to explain its ethical foundations, Western Visayas is seeking to demonstrate that technological progress should not be measured by speed or automation alone, but by how effectively AI safeguards rights, preserves human agency, supports accountability and serves the public good.

#DOSTWesternVisayas #OneDOST4U #SolutionsAndOpportunitiesForAll #2026AIFest #AISpeaks #AIGovernance #EthicalAI #EUREKA