COMMUNITY | Las Piñas explores AI for public services
The initiative provides local government units with digital tools, connectivity, training and mentorship to explore practical applications of AI in public services.The initiative provides local government units with digital tools, connectivity, training and mentorship to explore practical applications of AI in public services.
The Las Piñas City government is exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in managing information and developing public service solutions through PLDT and Smart’s AI-in-a-Box initiative.
The initiative provides local government units with digital tools, connectivity, training and mentorship to explore practical applications of AI in public services.
Las Piñas Mayor April Aguilar said the initiative could help the city consolidate information on beneficiaries of its various programs.
“AI-in-a-Box helps us bring all our data together, from green card programs to services for women, the youth, and TUPAD beneficiaries,” Aguilar said. “This way, we know exactly who we’ve helped and who still needs support. In the end, it’s about making sure our services reach the people who need them most.”
Stephanie V. Orlino, assistant vice president and head of stakeholder engagement at PLDT and Smart, said the program is intended to help city personnel explore AI applications based on local needs.
“Through AI-in-a-Box, we want to give city personnel not just access to technology, but the confidence to explore how AI can address the needs of their own communities,” Orlino said.
PLDT and Smart, with support from PLDT-Smart Foundation and partners Microsoft and HP Philippines, provided the Las Piñas government with an AI access kit containing an HP laptop, SmartBro 5G Max Turbo WiFi unit, smartphone, premium AI tool subscription and Smart prepaid load cards.
HP Philippines Managing Director Ida Ong-Co said AI adoption is gaining momentum among organizations.
“Across the Philippines, we are seeing tremendous momentum in AI adoption,” Ong-Co said. “At HP, we believe the next phase of AI is about helping organizations create smarter workflows that deliver sustainable results.”
As part of the initiative, PLDT and Smart conducted an AI training session for selected city government employees. The training was facilitated by social innovation agency Limitless Lab and introduced participants to “vibe coding,” an approach that uses natural-language prompts to build and refine software prototypes.
Personnel from the City Social Welfare and Development Office used the training to develop a wireframe for a platform that would consolidate beneficiary data and help prevent duplicate entries.
Paul Cristian B. Bautista, CSWDO media/IT staff, said the exercise allowed the team to visualize a potential solution based on an actual office requirement.
“Our team was able to create a simple wireframe for an internal database that could help one of our sections with profiling and encoding,” Bautista said. “What made the exercise useful was that we were working on an actual need within our office and could see how a possible solution might look.”
Other city personnel developed wireframes for an AI-powered chatbot that could answer frequently asked questions, potentially reducing waiting times for routine inquiries and allowing frontline personnel to focus on more complex concerns.
PLDT and Smart said AI-in-a-Box has also been extended to other local government units, combining technology, connectivity and capability-building to help communities develop solutions for local concerns.
Full disclosure: All news articles published on the TechSabado website are written by human journalists, unless otherwise specified. Final text editing is also performed by human editors, with artificial intelligence (AI) used only to assist with additional grammar and style guide corrections..
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