VST ECS Phils., Inc., President and CEO Jimmy Go in a video greeting during the second day of the VST-ECS CXO Tech Summit 2026 in Boracay, Philippines.
Photograph by Gwen Bergado for DAILY TRIBUNE.
BORACAY– The biggest IT distributor in the Philippines, VST-ECS, held its ninth CXO Tech Summit 2026 here from 20-23 October, highlighting the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in different landscapes such as business, government and creatives.
Under the theme Rethinking IT: Powering the AI-driven Enterprise, almost 63 brands participated in the three days of collaboration, networking and learning.
For VST ECS Phils., Inc., President and CEO Jimmy Go, AI slowly made its way to the Philippines and mentioned government initiatives inclined to it such as Data Sovereignty Law and the controversial Pax Silica, which can lead the nation to be a center for semiconductor and AI infrastructure.
“The Philippines stands at the intersection of global AI demand and local digital transformation,” he said through a recorded video.
“With a visionary policy, strategic investment, and global partnership, we can ensure that our nation is not just adapting to change, but leading it,” he added.
On a national scale digital banking and finance, Go emphasized that AI does beyond hosting a mobile application as it processes millions of microtransactions per second alongside autonomous detection of fraud networks to safeguard its users.
In the grand scale of things, AI has progressed quickly and assimilated itself to the lives of people, serving different purposes.
Starting out as a demo two years ago, AI has progressed quickly and assimilated itself to millions of people, serving different purposes and this year, it has entered discussions of customer service, forecasting, document processing and software development.
Go urged businesses to embrace AI in their systems as it serves as the “core driver of margin, efficiency, and scale,” shedding light to the role of AI in different fields such as retail, healthcare, manufacturing and education.
"Technology is no longer a department. It is no longer something handed to IT and checked on at the end of the quarter," he shared.
In healthcare, workforce gaps are filled by AI as it assists in diagnosis, telemedicine and clinical decision support.
Meanwhile, AI also entered the sphere of manufacturing as it deploys autonomous systems and also processes real-time algorithmic orchestration to bypass legacy supply chain bottlenecks.
On the highly-debatable place of AI in Education, Go mentioned that it helps learners deliver tangible impact through government-led initiatives to improve students’ efficiency and equity.
Future forward with AI
Go urged the attendees to avoid fear of what AI can do but instead, lean on it with confidence as it powers humanity through.
"Remember the Filipino advantage. We have one of the most digitally active, English-proficient, service-minded workforce in the world," he expressed.
“Stop managing the present, start architecting the future. Turn your technology roadmap into your core corporate strategy,” he continued.
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