Digital infrastructure, AI key to smart spending strategy
Digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI) investments may qualify as “smart spending” at a time of soft investor confidence and tight fiscal space, positioning them as levers for economic recovery.
Speaking to the Inquirer, Vijay Eswaran, executive chair of conglomerate QI Group of Companies, says that in a tight fiscal environment, the question is not how much money is available for digital investments, but how spending is structured.
“In practice, many high-return reforms don’t require massive new budgets, they require reallocating toward digital enablers and enforcing standards, so projects don’t fragment into incompatible systems,” Eswaran says.
“On sustainability, the same logic applies. Invest in data and digital systems that improve planning, monitoring, and accountability (for infrastructure, climate resilience, and social protection). Done well, innovation spending pays for itself through better delivery and reduced leakage,” he adds.
This approach to smart spending could generate significant economic multipliers.
“Digital government, good data, and AI-enabled workflows can reduce leakages, speed up service delivery, improve targeting of subsidies, strengthen compliance, and raise productivity in both public and private sectors,” Eswaran says.
Among the digital public infrastructure the government can invest in include identity systems, payment rails, interoperability and cybersecurity. These, according to Eswaran, can be strategic for high-impact areas such as procurement, revenue administration, permits and health and education workflows.
He adds that digital governance is key to restoring investor confidence after recent corruption controversies, through radical transparency in infrastructure delivery, digitized procurement and faster, more predictable compliance services.
“Digital systems won’t replace enforcement but they make misconduct harder to hide and easier to prosecute. Over time, that combination can rebuild credibility locally and strengthen the Philippines’ standing regionally,” the Malaysian businessman says.
With the Philippines set to host Asean Summit this year, Eswaran says the country has an opportunity to leverage its chairmanship by piloting a regional AI ethics framework to support emerging digital economies.
“If the Philippines uses its Asean chairmanship to champion practical regional standards such as ethical AI, interoperability, cybersecurity cooperation and digital inclusion, it can be seen as both a credible contributor and a bridge between advanced digital economies and emerging ones. That role matters in Asean,” Eswaran notes.
Still, he says the Philippines faces structural gaps before it can fully claim a spot among the region’s most competitive and resilient economies in AI and digital governance.
These gaps include reliable connectivity, stronger data infrastructure and consistent implementation of digital reforms across agencies and regions.
“Put simply, to be truly competitive, the Philippines must show it can deliver digital government at scale, not only launch initiatives,” he adds.
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