eGovPH Hackathon challenges Filipino innovators to transform public services

• IN PHOTO (from left): DICT Secretary Henry Aguda; First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos; and DICT Undersecretary for e-Government David Almirol Jr. during the opening of eGovPH Hackathon 2026.

Filipino developers, programmers, students, and technology professionals have been challenged to build digital solutions that could shape the future of government services as the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) opened the eGovPH Hackathon 2026 on Tuesday, July 21.

First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos joined DICT Secretary Henry Aguda and Undersecretary for e-Government David Almirol Jr. in opening the two-day event at the SMX Convention Center Aura in Taguig City, where participants are developing technology-driven solutions aimed at making government services more accessible, efficient, and citizen-centered.

The hackathon forms part of the government’s broader digital transformation program anchored on the eGovPH Super App, which consolidates national and local government services into a single digital platform.

Almirol said the government is inviting the country’s technology community to help strengthen and sustain the digital platforms it has built.

“We can no longer handle everything alone. There needs to be someone to sustain what we’ve started, or else everything we built will just crumble,” he said. “We want the IT community to help us enhance this, strengthen security, and review the architecture.”

He said participants are expected to develop practical innovations that simplify government transactions, strengthen collaboration among agencies, and improve the delivery of public services.

Almirol said the government’s digital initiatives have continued to gain widespread public adoption, with the eGovPH Super App reaching 61 million downloads and facilitating more than 900 million transactions. The platform currently integrates 1,332 government e-services across 95 service modules covering health, education, employment, travel, tourism, local government transactions, public safety, financial services, social protection, citizen assistance, and digital identity.

“The eGov Data Exchange Platform (eGovDX) has processed more than 950 million transactions, while more than 92 million Digital National IDs have been issued, supporting over 300 million identity verification transactions through eVerify,” Almirol said.

He also highlighted the growing adoption of eGovAI.

“eGovAI has already processed more than 200 million transactions and now serves over 10 million users. It supports translation, document extraction, electronic identity verification, and assistance on government laws and regulations,” Almirol said.

The agency is seeking a P2.7-billion budget for 2027 to further expand the country’s digital government infrastructure, strengthen cybersecurity, integrate more public services into the eGovPH ecosystem, and enhance platforms to meet growing demand.

The eGovPH Hackathon runs until July 22, with participating teams expected to present technology-driven solutions that could contribute to the next phase of the Philippines’ digital government transformation.