The Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), through its Center for Governance – Local Governance and Development Office (CFG-LGDO), capped its four-day Course on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Local Government Units (LGUs) or AI 301 – Batch 1 on August 27, 2026, at the DAP Building, Pasig City. Designed to accelerate local public sector innovation, this intensive capability-building initiative brought together 41 department heads, key functionaries, and technical staff from 13 LGUs.
Moving participants from theoretical concepts to practical execution, the program focused on human-centered design thinking, hands-on prompt engineering, and no-code prototype development.
During the hands-on segment, participants assessed their department processes to pinpoint persistent service delivery bottlenecks. Utilizing an AI Intervention Decision Matrix, teams evaluated existing technologies and data readiness to identify high-impact workflows suited for automation. These prioritized workflows were reframed into citizen-centric solution concepts during a Design Thinking workshop led by DAP Center of Excellence on Public Sector Productivity (COE-PSP) Project Manager Alvin Joseph S. Bilog.
Following the conceptual phase, abstract frameworks advanced into technical execution through structured prompt engineering and “Human-in-the-Loop” oversight under the DAP Center for Strategic Futures (CSF) Project Manager Ray Daniel G. Peralta. Participants operationalized instruction logic into software architecture using no-code environments and Vibe Coding platforms to build working LGU AI-Powered Proof-of-Concept prototypes. The technical pipeline concluded under DAP COE-PSP Project Manager Rocio Isabel R. Paloma, as teams subjected their prototypes to empirical user-testing and iterative refinement based on operational feedback.
On the final day, seven multi-LGU cohorts presented functional prototypes to a review panel comprising COE-PSP Program Director Peter Dan B. Baon, CSF Project Manager John Michael Elritz Gallo, CFG-LGDO Project Manager Daniel G. Rosero, and CSF Project Manager Joana Marie A. Erasga. The high-impact solutions spanned assessor workflow automation, civil registry assistance, scholarship application tracking, conformance screening, predictive tricycle franchise management, interactive flood hazard mapping, and assistance platforms for vulnerable sectors. Projects were evaluated on strategic prioritization, human-centered design, prototype functionality, user-testing execution, and LGU implementation viability.
In her closing remarks, CFG Vice-President Imelda C. Caluen commended the participants’ transformative outputs and reminded them of the true power of public sector innovation.
“The outputs you produce are not merely course requirements; they are symbols of what is possible. You have proven that innovation in the public sector does not necessarily require massive capital or daunting complexity,” Vice-President Caluen emphasized, encouraging them to ensure future AI adoption remains deliberate, expert-led, and centered on human service.
