ASEAN must lead the next era of digital finance, says Fintech Alliance PH Chair Villanueva

MANILA, Philippines — Southeast Asia has an opportunity to shape the next generation of global finance, but only if the region moves decisively on artificial intelligence, digital assets, and cybersecurity, according to FinTech Alliance PH Founding Chairman and RCBC Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva.

Opening the ASEAN Tech Summit 2026 in Manila, Villanueva said ASEAN is no longer merely participating in the global digital economy but is increasingly defining its direction.

"Southeast Asia is becoming the engine of the global digital economy. The blueprint for the next decade is being drawn today, and ASEAN must help write it," he said.

Villanueva identified three technologies that will fundamentally reshape financial services: agentic AI, digital assets, and cybersecurity.

He said AI agents will increasingly execute financial transactions autonomously, while tokenization and stablecoins are poised to transform cross-border payments and remittances. At the same time, he stressed that cybersecurity must evolve alongside these innovations as financial crime grows more sophisticated across the region.

He also called for ASEAN to play a more active role in shaping the future of artificial intelligence, noting that much of today's AI infrastructure is being developed outside the region.

To strengthen regional resilience, Villanueva proposed greater collaboration through a private sector-led ASEAN Resiliency Wealth Fund to accelerate strategic investments, alongside a regional Network Anti-Scam Hub to enhance intelligence sharing and combat cross-border financial crime.

The summit also announced a long-term collaboration between the Global Finance and Technology Network (GFTN) and the Philippines focused on advancing inclusive financial innovation, improving financial health, and developing AI-ready talent. Key initiatives include bringing GFTN's Select Series to Manila, launching the ASEAN Financial Health Challenge 2026 with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and pursuing a five-year AI Horizon Philippines Programme to develop the country's AI and digital finance workforce.

The 2026 Philippine FinTech Report was likewise launched during the summit, providing the latest assessment of the country's digital finance ecosystem.

Hosted during the Philippines' ASEAN Chairship, the ASEAN Tech Summit 2026 convenes policymakers, regulators, financial institutions, fintech companies, and technology leaders to discuss the future of AI, digital assets, cybersecurity, open finance, and cross-border payments across Southeast Asia.

About FinTech Alliance PH

Established in 2017, is the country’s premier and largest organization of fintech companies and digital financial service providers. With over 170 corporate members, it represents more than 95% of digital transaction volume and serves over 110 million digital accounts of Filipinos. It is also the first in Asia to institutionalize an industry-led Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics and continues to lead initiatives on cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and consumer education.

Grand Opening: Travel Madness Expo 2026 Opens at SMX Convention Center ManilaJuly 09, 2026

PASAY CITY, July 10, 2026 – The much-awaited Travel Madness Expo 2026 officially opened today at the SMX Convention Center Manila, welcoming thousands of travel enthusiasts, families, and industry professionals eager to take advantage of exclusive travel deals and destination promotions.
Running from July 10 to 12, 2026, the expo brings together leading airlines, hotels, resorts, cruise operators, travel agencies, and tourism organizations from the Philippines and around the world. Visitors can enjoy event-exclusive discounts, vacation packages, airfare promotions, and exciting raffle prizes available only during the three-day event.
The grand opening highlighted the resilience and continued growth of the Philippine tourism industry, encouraging Filipinos to rediscover local destinations while exploring international travel opportunities. Attendees can compare travel offers, book trips on the spot, and meet travel experts for personalized vacation planning.

Whether you're dreaming of a beach getaway, a cultural adventure, or an overseas holiday, the Travel Madness Expo 2026 offers something for every type of traveler.
Stay tuned to The Social SCENE PH for more event highlights, exhibitor features, travel tips, and exclusive updates from the expo floor. See you there.

#TravelMadnessExpo2026 
#todayph26

Philippines, Japan Co-Host Second ASEAN Workshop on Strategic Trade ManagementTOKYO, JAPAN

The Philippines, through the Department of Trade and Industry – Strategic Trade Management Office (DTI-STMO), together with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), co-hosted the Second ASEAN Capacity Building Workshop on Strategic Trade Management (STM) from on 07-09 July 2026 in Tokyo, Japan. The workshop was supported by the United States Export Control and Border Security Program, European Union Partner-to-Partner Export Control Programme and the Center for Trade Excellence.

The workshop forms part of the Philippines’ 2026 ASEAN Chairship Priority Economic Deliverable and supports the proposed ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Strategic Trade Management for Secure Regional Trade. It also builds on the inaugural ASEAN STM Capacity Building Workshop held in Boracay, Philippines in December 2025.

The regional workshop brought together ASEAN Senior Economic Officials, STM Officials and international partners to strengthen regional cooperation on STM and promote a common understanding of measures that facilitate secure and responsible trade.

Discussions focused on how effective STM systems contribute to economic security, resilient supply chains, responsible investment, and trusted trade while preventing the diversion of strategic goods, advanced technologies, and software for unauthorized purposes.

Participants exchanged national experiences on developing legal and institutional frameworks, licensing systems, enforcement mechanisms, and industry engagement. A private sector panel highlighted the importance of transparent, predictable, and practical regulatory frameworks that support legitimate trade while ensuring effective compliance.

Interactive breakout sessions allowed delegates to examine practical case studies involving diversion risks, end-use and end-user controls, sanctions-related issues, and transshipment vulnerabilities. The exercises encouraged information sharing and identified opportunities for closer regional cooperation.

The workshop recognized that ASEAN Member States are at different stages of developing their strategic trade management systems but share a common interest in strengthening supply chain resilience, facilitating legitimate trade, and enhancing ASEAN’s competitiveness as a trusted destination for trade and investment.

The workshop concluded with a shared commitment to continue regional dialogue and capacity building in support of the proposed ASEAN Leader’s Declaration on Strategic Trade Management for Secure Regional Trade, reinforcing ASEAN’s vision of a secure, resilient, and future-ready regional economy.

𝐊𝐖𝐅, 𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐢 𝐬𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚 𝐏𝐈𝐀 𝐋𝐞𝐲𝐭𝐞

Matapos ang pormal na pulong at presentasyon ng Proyektong Bantayog-Wika 2026  sa pagitan ng Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) at Leyte Normal University (LNU) ay agad na lumahok ang dalawang panig sa “Kapihan ha PIA Leyte” noong 1 Hulyo 2026 sa LNU Research Innovation and Extension Center sa Government Center sa Palo, Leyte.

Naging pangunahing panauhin sa panayam si Atty. Marites A. Barrios-Taran, Tagapangulo ng KWF at  Ikalawang Pangulo para sa Pangasiwaan at Pananalapi ng LNU, Dr. Solomon D. Faller, upang ikapanayam ang mga lokal na midya ng Rehiyon otso sa pangunguna ni Region VIII PIA Information and Communications Manager, Bb. Ahlette C. Reyes.

Naging pangunahing panauhin sa panayam si Atty. Marites A. Barrios-Taran, Tagapangulo ng KWF at  Ikalawang Pangulo para sa Pangasiwaan at Pananalapi ng LNU, Dr. Solomon D. Faller, upang makapanaya ng lokal na midya ng Rehiyon 8 sa pangunguna ni Region VIII PIA Information and Communications Manager, Bb. Ahlette C. Reyes.

Naging pangunahing paksa sa naging talakayan ang tungkol sa proyektong Bantayog-Wika na nilalayong maipatayo sa Palo, leyte bago matapos ang taóng 2026. 

Ang Bantayog-Wika 2026 ay nasa ilalim ng pamamahala ni Dr. Carmelita C. Abdurahman, KWF Komisyoner para sa Programa at Proyekto na kumakatawan sa mga wika ng Samar-Leyte.

More Choices, Not Just “Free,” Is What Really Protects Filipino Consumers

As big banks waive transfer fees, it's worth remembering that a healthy mix of financial companies, not a single free option, is what has kept costs down and services improving for ordinary Filipinos.

Not long ago, sending ₱500 to a relative in a remote barangay could cost you almost as much as the amount itself. A tricycle ride to the nearest bank branch ran ₱100 in far-flung areas. In the city, a taxi or a Grab ride just to make a bank transfer cost even more, plus the hours lost to travel and queuing. Then e-wallets and small digital finance companies came along, and that same errand cost ₱10, took thirty seconds, and needed nothing but a phone.

It's worth asking why that happened. It wasn't one company's generosity. It was competition. Banks, e-wallets, and remittance apps grew alongside each other, each one racing to make sending money easier and cheaper than the next. That race brought the cost down from ₱100 to ₱10 or ₱20, not any single institution's goodwill. The real lesson here: what protects consumers isn't one company's low price. It's how many real choices they have.

Earlier this year, the BSP issued a circular pushing electronic payment fees to be reasonable, transparent, and based on actual cost. That's a sound standard, and BSP deserves credit for it. It never required fees to drop to zero. It simply asked that fees reflect what it actually costs to move money safely.

A number of large banks then chose to go further and waive transfer fees entirely. That's their right, and good for their customers in the moment. But it had a side effect worth noticing. It quietly reset what the public now expects “reasonable” to mean, for every provider, everywhere. Electronic money issuers, the companies behind many of our e-wallets and remittance apps, are now being asked why they “still charge” for something the biggest banks give away free.

That comparison misses something important. A bank, at its core, is in the business of keeping your money. It takes deposits, lends that money out, and earns enough from interest to give some services away for free. An EMI is in the business of moving your money, not keeping it. By law, it can't lend out the funds passing through it. It has no deposit interest quietly paying its bills. Every transfer it processes comes out of its own pocket.

Think of a jeepney and a private car sharing the same road. Ask both to charge passengers the same fare, and only one survives. That's the risk here too. If every provider has to match the price only the biggest, most diversified players can afford, the smaller ones don't get better. They just stop competing, or close. A free transaction today can mean fewer companies competing for your business tomorrow, and fewer competitors usually means less pressure on anyone to keep improving.

This is why a healthy mix of banks, EMIs, and other players matters to ordinary Filipinos, not as an industry talking point, but as the actual mechanism that got us cheaper, better service in the first place. Protecting that mix isn't about protecting any one company. It's about protecting the range of options that got us here, and that keeps every provider working to earn your business rather than assume it.

It's also why BSP's own approach, careful, consultative, grounded in real data, is the right one. Industry has been engaging with it constructively and openly. Getting this right takes time, and that's exactly as it should be.

One more thing is worth adding gently, while that process is still underway. If the recent zero-fee move by a few major banks were ever held up, in a moment as big as the State of the Nation Address, as a national win to extend across the whole industry, it risks sending the wrong signal to a public that doesn't yet fully understand how differently these companies are built, or how much that difference has already worked in their favor. It would suggest, all at once, that only one kind of provider should remain. That's not a reason to hold back a real milestone worth celebrating. It's only a reason to let the conversation already underway between BSP and industry run a little further first.

The next time “zero fee” sounds like a win, ask a quieter second question: what happens to your choices next year, if only the biggest players can afford to offer it? Real value for Filipino consumers was never about one free transaction. It's always been about how many companies are still in the race to serve you. By Ann J. Cuisia

Semestreng Ulat ng KWF, Itinampok sa Kapihang Wika

Itinampok sa Kapihang Wika ng Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino ang Semestreng Ulat ng KWF sa Auditorium ng PIA, Lungsod Quezon.

Panauhing pandangal si Katherine Chloe S. De Castro, Direktor Heneral ng PIA at ibinahagi rito ang ulat ng mga naisagawang proyekto at programa ng KWF para sa unang semestre ng 2026. Nagbigay ng mensahe ang mga pinuno ng KWF na sina Tagapangulong Marites A. Barrios-Taran; Komisyoner Carmelita C. Abdurahman, EdD; at Komisyoner Benjamin M. Mendillo, Jr.,PhD.

𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐆-𝐖𝐈𝐊𝐀 𝐒𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐑, 𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐎 𝐒𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐋 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊

Nagsagawa ng site inspection ang Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) at Pamahalaang Panlalawigan ng Samar sa Kapitolyo ng Samar noong 29 Hunyo 2026 na nilalayong pagtayuan ng kauna-unahang Bantayog-Wika ng lalawigan.

Pinangunahan nina Atty. Marites A. Barrios-Taran, Tagapangulo ng KWF, Dr. Carmelita C. Abdurahman, Komisyoner para sa Programa at Proyekto, at mga kinatawan mula sa Departamento ng Turismo ng Samar ang pagbisita upang tiyakin ang kahandaan ng lugar na planong paglagakan ng Bantayog-Wika ng Samar. Ang proyektong ito ay naglalayong kilalanin at pangalagaan ang yaman ng katutubong wika at kultura ng Samar. Target ng KWF at PGU Samar na matapos at maipatayo ang nasabing monumento bago magwakas ang taóng kasalukuyan.

Ang proyektong Bantayog-Wika 2026 ay nasa ilalim ng pamamahala ni Dr. Carmelita C. Abdurahman, Komisyoner para sa Programa at Proyekto ng KWF at opisyal na kumakatawan sa mga wika ng rehiyon.

Ang Bantayog-Wika ng Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino ay isang proyekto na naglalayong bigyan ng pisikal na anyo ang wika upang mas tangkilikin, pangalagaan, at ipagmalaki ng bawat mamamayan ang yamang-wika at kultura ng bawat rehiyon sa Pilipinas.