PHL ENTERPRISES TOLD: TAP A.I. TO DRIVE BIZ GROWTH

By Roderick L. Abad @rodrik_28

PHILIPPINE enterprises are encouraged to leverage on artificial intelligence (AI) built on confidence and transparency that can bring real value to their entities. B usinesses, especially small-scale ones, are still quite afraid of AI without knowing that they will be left behind their competitors who have already embraced this cuttingedge technology, according to IBM Philippines President and Technology Leader Aileen Judan-Jiao.

“ They would need to put AI to work at the strategic core of their business to meet tomorrow’s elevated customer expectations. At the same time, it is critical for organizations to use AI that is explainable, fair, robust, transparent, and prioritize and safeguard consumers’ privacy and data rights to engender trust,” she told reporters in a briefing prior to the staging of IBM’s flagship Tech Innovation Forum 2023 at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig on Wednesday. A s a catchup, companies ought to adopt the hottest technology trend today called the generative AI that has been quickly gaining traction amongst the businesses, professionals and consumers. In a nutshell, this type of AI refers to machine learning systems that can create text, images, code or other kinds of content usually in response to a prompt entered by a user. Unlike the traditional machine learning or deep learning that is like “the realm of data

I n a Senate hearing on the proposed national budget for 2024, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the Philippines has not been as aggressive in terms of crafting bilaterals and must endeavor to fast-track these agreements.

B alisacan said this is a strategy employed by Viet Nam which led to its current position as “the center of the world in terms of investment” given its aggressive efforts in forging bilateral trade agreements with various countries.

“ The [priority] is to speed up negotiations with many countries, not only the US [United States] or EU [European Union] but even our neighbors because there is so much limitation with Asean,” Balisacan said.

B alisacan earlier said this will increase the opportunities to generate more jobs for the country’s rapidly growing labor force.

He also said attracting more investments and maximizing trade opportunities with various markets globally through bilateral

DBM: ₧16.95B set for ’24 govt pay hike

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE Marcos Jr. administra - tion is setting aside at least P16.95 billion for the salary increase of government employees next year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

T he DBM said the allocation is in line with the provisions of the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF).

DBM Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said the funding allows the national government to pursue compensation adjustment starting next year.

T he DBM added that about P1.368 billion is included in the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) to bankroll the additional P1,000 in uniform or clothing allowance of over 1.3 million government employees.

The DBM has likewise been conducting a parallel review of the various benefits received across dif - ferent ranks of the civil service to determine the need to adjust them,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.

T he DBM noted that the last tranche of salary hikes for government employees as mandated by the Salary Standardization Law was implemented last January.

T he DBM said a P48-million budget has been allocated to the Governance Commission for GOCCs this year for the conduct of a comprehensive review of the Compensation and Position Classification System for the government sector.

P angandaman said President Marcos Jr. has instructed the DBM to conduct a study to determine if the compensation that civilian government personnel are receiving is “competitive” compared to those working in the private sector.

“ The final cost requirement [of the increase] shall be determined once the results of the study have been presented and finalized,” Pangandaman added.