PLDT offers infrastructure support for government data residency push

• Photo courtesy of Manny V Pangilinan.

PLDT Inc. said it is ready to support the government’s increasing demand for secure local data hosting following the issuance of Executive Order No. 119, which establishes a data residency framework for government information.

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The policy is expected to guide government agencies in storing and managing sensitive data within approved infrastructure, as the country expands the delivery of digital public services.

PLDT Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan expressed support for the administration’s digital transformation plans, saying the company has invested in infrastructure and technical capabilities that could help the public sector implement the policy.

“We’re eager to help turn the President’s vision into reality,” Pangilinan said. “We have been preparing for this future for years. We built the infrastructure ahead of time, and our people have the expertise and capabilities to help the government secure our data and accelerate our digital transformation.”

PLDT said its network of data centers, cloud platforms, and fixed and wireless infrastructure could provide government agencies with the capacity and resilience needed to meet emerging data residency and protection requirements.

Victor S. Genuino, president and CEO of ePLDT Inc. and president of VITRO REIT Inc., said the executive order recognizes the importance of a country’s ability to secure and govern its own data.

“This landmark policy brings our government’s data governance framework in alignment with the demands of the digital economy, which includes a nation’s ability to secure, govern and control its own data. EO 119 is a key step to ensure both our national security and economic competitiveness,” Genuino said.

He added that ePLDT already hosts data and workloads for government agencies, enterprises, cloud providers, and artificial intelligence applications.

“We already host the critical data of the country’s data-driven government agencies, enterprises, and cloud and AI workloads. And with the launch of VITRO Santa Rosa, the country’s first and only AI-ready data center, we can confidently say we are ready today — not just with capacity, but with the cloud and AI capabilities the public sector requires,” he said.

PLDT’s data center operations are managed through ePLDT and VITRO REIT. The group said its facilities have an estimated 34 megawatts of available IT-ready capacity across its nationwide data center footprint.

The infrastructure includes VITRO-branded data centers that host locally developed platforms such as Pilipinas Cloud and Pilipinas AI.

Launched in 2023, Pilipinas Cloud was developed as a sovereign cloud platform for hosting sensitive government information, applications, and mission-critical workloads while complying with domestic data protection regulations.

Pilipinas AI, introduced in 2025, provides organizations with locally hosted AI infrastructure and services. PLDT said the platform is intended to help government agencies and businesses deploy AI systems while keeping critical data and workloads within the Philippines.

The company said these platforms could support government agencies that need to modernize their systems without transferring sensitive information to infrastructure located outside the country.

PLDT and Smart’s integrated fixed and wireless networks underpin the company’s data center and cloud services. As of the end of March 2026, PLDT said its domestic and international fiber infrastructure covered nearly 1.3 million cable kilometers.