Tech for good | Philstar . com

philstar.com · Feb 17, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

Full Article

The Fitch Ratings issued its regional country credit review that included the Philippines. For this year’s outlook, Fitch rated the Philippines as one of the stronger performers among Asia’s large ‘BBB’-rated sovereigns, supported by solid medium-term growth prospects and resilient external buffers despite limited fiscal space and governance challenges that continue to weigh on its credit profile. In its latest report, Fitch Ratings projects the Philippine economy to grow by 5.7 percent by the end of this year. It will make our country the second fastest-growing among the five Asian ‘BBB’ sovereigns after India. Fitch’s comparison covered India, which is projected to grow by 6.4 percent this year; Indonesia (4.8 percent); Malaysia (four percent) and Thailand (1.9 percent). The Fitch Ratings is one of the “Big 3” international credit rating agencies (along with Moody’s and Standards & Poor’s) that provides forward-looking, independent credit opinions, research and data for financial markets. These international credit ratings agencies assess the creditworthiness of borrowers, including corporations, governments and structured finance vehicles, using a letter-based scale to rate debt from AAA (highest) to D (default). This brings to mind the Philippine bid to reach AAA credit grade that was strongly pushed when Monetary Board (MB) member Benjamin Diokno, who was then the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor. Diokno dubbed it as “the road to AAA.” Before he took office at the BSP, Diokno recalled, the BSP organized already its Investor Relations Group (IRG) that was specifically tasked to raise the Philippines’ credit profile and promote the country as an investment destination. Diokno recalled the Philippines achieved its first investment-grade rating (by Fitch) on March 27, 2013. Diokno started the “road to AAA” campaign immediately after former president Rodrigo Duterte named him BSP governor on March 4, 2019. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic struck a year later. And “the road to AAA” ended in a blip. “I recall that during the pandemic, around one-third of jurisdictions were downgraded because their public debt rose and became unsustainable,” Diokno rued. “The Philippines was already investment grade when I assumed the BSP governor post. I was governor during the pandemic, a very difficult period, and I was glad that the Philippines’ international credit rating was maintained, amid a sea of downgrades globally.” Diokno gave up his BSP post after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) appointed him to become his secretary of finance in June 2022. Subsequently, PBBM named him as MB member in June 2024 with a fixed term of six years. On May 22, 2023, Diokno noted, Fitch affirmed the BBB rating but revised the outlook to ‘stable’ from ‘negative.’ There has been no change in the ratings since then, Diokno added. Diokno pointed to the latest Fitch report that stated: “Poor governance remains the Philippines’ biggest challenge. Compared to India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the Philippines has the weakest World Bank governance score, particularly control of corruption and political stability.” It added that social unrest and protests over governance standards in 2025 added to spending pressures and policy challenges. Fitch further flagged downside risks to its projected growth of the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) outlook in 2026 due to lower government spending linked to a corruption scandal. For the Philippines, growth is being underpinned by public infrastructure spending. Estimated at about 4.3 percent of GDP, Fitch sees it as one of the highest in this regional grouping. At the same time, Fitch highlighted the Philippine government’s debt ratio is projected at about 55.4 percent of GDP, close to the ‘BBB’ median. The Philippines though stands out for having raised its revenue-to-GDP ratio by about three percentage points since 2016, unlike most peers in the group, Fitch added. The Fitch report further noted that infrastructure development plays an important role in the growth strategy being pursued by the Marcos administration, alongside reforms aimed at improving the business environment and opening more sectors to foreign investments. At our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last week, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda announced a whole-of-government campaign to use blockchain technology in a bid to drastically cut corruption at every stage of public transactions. On the part of the DICT, Aguda disclosed, the agency is spearheading the convergence of various government agencies in using blockchain technology as one of the built-in anti-corruption measures. Last week, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) led by acting Secretary Vivencio “Vince” Dizon rolled out its Integrity Chain Portal to ensure traceable, auditable and accessible records for accredited validators of the Blockchain Council of the Philippines (BCP) to expand the transparency initiatives of the government. An initiative with partners BCP, DICT and BYC Ventures, the Integrity Chain Portal provides validators a real-time dashboard for decentralized and secure monitoring of infrastructure projects. And the public can access the same dashboard for viewing. But does putting the budget on blockchain automatically make government spending more transparent and corruption-proof? Art Samaniego, founder of TechWatchPH and co-founder of ScamWatch Pilipinas, gave a short answer: “Not necessarily.” “Blockchain is not a magic anti-corruption tool. Blockchain can record data in a tamper-resistant way, but it does not prevent wrongdoing,” Samaniego pointed out. “In simple terms: if the wrong information is uploaded, blockchain only preserves the wrong information forever,” he warned. Obviously, he noted, blockchain may be used as a “branding tool to signal reform.” Samaniego suggested a better way to claim transparency is to change real practices. Without doing so, I agree with him this can create a false sense of accountability while deeper governance issues remain untouched. The DICT secretary conceded the blockchain technology is not “100 percent hack-proof” as its advocates claim. Aguda credited the ingenuity of Filipino techies that renders blockchain technology not absolutely secure against potential breaches or insider abuse. “Technology is not the solution to all our problems. But as the President says, ‘Tech for good,’ it’s a tool,” Aguda argued. “Sana (wish),” it will be good for all.