Las Piñas is turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to explore new ways of managing information, developing projects, and delivering public services, with PLDT and Smart’s AI-in-a-Box.

“AI-in-a-Box helps us bring all our data together, from green card programs to services for women, the youth, and TUPAD beneficiaries,” said Las Piñas Mayor April Aguilar. “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.”

AI-in-a-Box is the PLDT Group’s initiative to make AI more accessible to communities. The program combines digital tools, connectivity, training, and mentorship to help local government units turn emerging technologies into practical solutions to enhance public service delivery.

“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,” said Stephanie V. Orlino, AVP and Head of Stakeholder Engagement at PLDT and Smart. “When LGUs are equipped to make better use of their own information, they can begin finding new ways to make public services more responsive and accessible.”

Supported by PLDT-Smart Foundation and partners Microsoft and HP Philippines, PLDT and Smart provided the Las Piñas City government with an AI access kit, which includes an HP laptop, a SmartBro 5G Max Turbo WiFi unit, a smartphone, a premium AI tool subscription, and Smart prepaid load cards.

“Across the Philippines, we are seeing tremendous momentum in AI adoption,” said Ida Ong-Co, HP Philippines Managing Director. “At HP, we believe the next phase of AI is about helping organizations create smarter workflows that deliver sustainable results.​ It’s about bringing together the right technology, security, visibility, and workforce experiences to enable AI adoption that is secure, scalable, and measurable.​”

And to help the city kick off its AI journey, PLDT and Smart also conducted an AI training to provide LGU employees hands-on experience in identifying where AI could be useful in their own work. Conducted by social innovation agency Limitless Lab, selected LGU personnel were trained in vibe coding, which uses natural-language prompts, rather than manually written code, to build and refine software prototypes. The approach allows people without formal programming or IT backgrounds to turn ideas into working concepts more quickly.

Staff from the City Social Welfare Development Office (CSWDO) used the training to develop a platform that will consolidate beneficiary data, aiming to prevent duplicate entries and ensure aid reaches the right beneficiaries.

“Our team was able to create a simple wireframe for an internal database that could help one of our sections with profiling and encoding,” said Paul Cristian B. Bautista, CSWDO Media/IT staff. “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. The output is not yet a fully developed system, but it gives our team a starting point to visualize and explain the system we may want to develop further. This can make the planning and development process more practical and easier to understand.”

Other office personnel who are in the frontline of providing public services developed wireframes for an AI-powered chatbot that could answer frequently asked questions to cut down wait times for simple queries and free up staff for more complex tasks.

PLDT and Smart have extended AI-in-a-Box to other local government units across the Philippines, combining technology, connectivity and capability-building to bring AI closer to communities beyond major urban centers.

Through the initiative, PLDT and Smart provide participating communities with access to digital tools, training, and mentorship as they build solutions designed to address local concerns. AI-in-a-Box supports the PLDT Group’s much broader efforts to expand digital inclusion and encourage innovation in line with the UNSDG 9 on Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.