Philippines lags behind SEA peers in digital government readiness

The Philippines continues to trail several of its Southeast Asian peers in digital government readiness, reflecting uneven progress in the country’s push to modernize public services through technology.

In the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) latest Digital Government Index (DGI), the Philippines scored 0.28 out of 1. The country ranked third-lowest among the eight Southeast Asian countries that the study covered.

The OECD’s DGI draws on data from Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, collected between September 2024 and February 2025.

The index was presented in Government at a Glance: Southeast Asia 2025 in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank.

This placed the Philippines below the regional average of 0.37. The Southeast Asian average itself lags the OECD member-country average of 0.61.

“Governments can improve their agility and policy impact by putting digital transformation at the heart of modernization efforts,” OECD said.

The index benchmarks how governments integrate digital technologies and data into policymaking and public service delivery across six dimensions. These are digital by design, data-driven public sector, government as a platform, open by default, user-driven services and proactiveness.

The Philippines recorded a low score of 0.36 in “digital by design,” also placing it third lowest among its regional peers.

This suggests that while digital initiatives exist, they are not yet consistently built into the core design of government operations.

“Setting a strategic vision and clear mandate for digital government is a prerequisite to steer digital government initiatives, and for facilitating more effective and inclusive cross-sector collaboration,” the OECD said.

The group added that all of its surveyed Southeast Asian countries have a mandated government institution or formal coordination body on digital government.

For its part, the Philippines, through the Department of Information and Communications Technology of the Philippines, has developed a National ICT Government Agenda and a Digital Government Masterplan for 2023 until 2028.

4th highest

The Philippines also ranked fourth-highest in proactiveness, with a score of 0.26. The OECD said this could be further improved through the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), an area where Southeast Asia as a whole continues to lag.

“The adoption of AI can help governments become more proactive. Used strategically and responsibly, governments can leverage AI to enhance public sector productivity, responsiveness and accountability,” the OECD said.

Only three countries in the region currently have a national strategy or agenda that references the use of AI in the public sector, including the Philippines, according to the report.

However, the OECD said the Philippines has yet to deploy AI systems in government operations and does not have binding or non-binding instruments in place to guide the responsible use of algorithms in the public sector.

At the regional level, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations published a guide on AI governance and ethics last year to support member states in developing common principles and safeguards.

More recently, President Marcos Jr. said the Philippines should fully utilize AI to help drive national development, including through legislation, signaling potential policy momentum in the coming years.

Mr. Marcos also approved in May the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the Philippines. The Department of Science and Technology initiated this effort.

Report:

OECD (2025), Government at a Glance 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/0efd0bcd-en.

Source: Inquirer

Philippines edges up in rule of law

The Philippines inched up three places to 97^th out of 143 countries and jurisdictions in the 2025 edition of the World Justice Project’s (WJP) Rule of Law Index. It was the country’s best ranking in five years. However, it remained one of the laggards in the region.

Source: Business World

ARROW Act to unlock infrastructure projects

Long-delayed infrastructure projects in the Philippines could gain momentum with the passage of the Accelerated and Reformed Right-of-Way (ARROW) Act, according to analysts.

Republic Act No. 12289, signed last month by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., amended the Right-of-Way Act of 2016 to make property acquisition faster, more transparent, and predictable.

Under the new law, agencies and private concessionaires must make upfront deposits on properties slated for acquisition — including crops, trees, and improvements — equivalent to 15% of their market value.

“By standardizing compensation and requiring upfront deposits, both landowners and developers gain greater transparency and security,” said Jamie S. Dela Cruz, research manager at KMC Savills.

“For the property sector, this translates into clearer growth corridors and faster value appreciation in areas near planned infrastructure,” she added.

“Developers, investors, and businesses can plan with more certainty, while landowners benefit from more predictable compensation.”

Joey Roi H. Bondoc, director and head of research at Colliers Philippines, said the amended RoW Act will support real estate expansion outside Metro Manila.

“You cannot achieve both infrastructure implementation and decentralization if you cannot acquire the properties needed to build infrastructure,” he said.

Analysts have noted developers’ growing interest in regional areas such as Pampanga, Cebu, Bacolod, and Davao, amid favorable economic conditions and talent pools.

However, Ms. Dela Cruz cautioned that uneven implementation at the local level and potential speculative price surges in acquisition areas remain risks.

Right-of-way bottlenecks have long hindered infrastructure projects, affecting property developers’ expansion plans.

Beyond solving RoW bottlenecks, the government should strengthen urban planning and zoning to prevent congestion and ensure that infrastructure projects support balanced growth, she said.

She also stressed the need for more efficient permits, land titling, and property registration, as well as affordable housing for middle-income and working-class households.

“It should also ensure that public-private partnerships in key growth areas align infrastructure with commercial, industrial, and residential demand,” she added.

“If these issues are addressed together, the ARROW Act could become a genuine catalyst not only for infrastructure delivery but also for a more competitive, resilient, and inclusive Philippine property market,” Ms. Dela Cruz said.

Source: Business World