NAGA CITY, Philippines — October 30, 2025.
While corruption scandals dominate national headlines, one city decided to fight back — quietly, intelligently, and without fanfare.
Naga City just made history as the first local government in the Philippines to deploy a full-scale, AI-powered anti-corruption system — a groundbreaking innovation built entirely by Filipino StartUp founders, scientists and innovators determined to make corruption impossible before it starts.
Under the visionary leadership of Mayor Leni, Naga didn’t wait for directives or debates. Instead, it built a system that turns transparency into technology — ensuring that every project, every peso, and every promise is tracked, verified, and delivered with integrity.
The platform, first unveiled at the Asian Institute of Management during the Masters in Innovation and Business Demo Day on September 2, 2023, represents a turning point in Philippine governance — where honesty is not just a virtue, but a system.
No politics. No noise.
Just proof that good governance can be engineered.
And as others continue to talk about reform, Naga quietly showed the nation what it actually looks like.
In a time when corruption scandals are making headlines across the nation, one city is quietly making history.
Known as the Home of the Center for Good Governance, Naga City, under the visionary leadership of Mayor Leni Robredo, has once again proven that good governance isn’t just a slogan — it’s a system, a standard, and a soul deeply rooted in Nagueños.
While much of the country was gripped by the nationwide flood control scandal, Naga City became the first LGU to act decisively — by adopting a revolutionary technology designed to end corruption before it even begins.
That innovation is called CENTRO — the first-ever 100% Filipino-developed anti-corruption and governance technology, created by a team of young Filipino scientists and innovators from PhilCentro Technologies, Inc.
Originally a Capstone Project from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), CENTRO was first launched at AIM in 2023, and has since evolved into a full-scale civic technology platform built to ensure that every project, every peso, and every promise made to the people is tracked, verified, and delivered with transparency.
“This is more than innovation. This is integrity in motion,” said Mayor Leni, as she emphasized that Naga’s partnership with CENTRO is not a reaction to scandal — but a proactive declaration that transparency and accountability are non-negotiable pillars of governance.
Naga citizens can now witness governance in real-time — tracking project progress, monitoring fund usage, and validating completion. This milestone makes Naga City the first local government in Philippine history to implement a full-spectrum digital anti-corruption system from start to finish.
For Local Government Units (LGUs), the implications are transformative. With ProTrak, mayors and administrators gain data-driven visibility across departments, automatic compliance and generation of reports with standards such as the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 12009, and the ability to monitor every peso and project in real time. It simplifies decision-making, reduces bureaucratic waste, and builds a transparent record of performance — a technological safeguard against corruption and inefficiency..
Had a system like ProTrak been adopted nationwide earlier, experts believe the Flood Control controversy could have been prevented — or, at the very least, fully transparent to the public. The trillions of pesos now under scrutiny could have instead been allocated toward education, health, food security, innovation, and livelihood programs that directly improve the lives of ordinary Filipinos.
The system harnesses the power of Filipino-made Artificial Intelligence (AI) and localized Blockchain technology, developed in collaboration with AIRA AI Labs — a leading research and development center specializing in applied AI for governance, automation, and civic systems.
AIRA AI Labs provides the system’s analytical core — enabling ProTrak to process complex data across multiple departments in real time. Through advanced machine learning, the system can identify inefficiencies, predict potential project delays or compliance risks, and recommend corrective actions long before issues escalate. This predictive capacity empowers local governments to shift from reactive governance to proactive management — preventing misuse of resources before it happens.
Complementing this intelligence layer is a locally developed Blockchain framework that ensures data immutability, accountability, and trust. Every project milestone, transaction, and approval logged through ProTrak is permanently recorded on a tamper-proof ledger — safeguarding public funds from alteration and making every process auditable to the public and regulatory bodies alike.
Together, with CENTRO, AIRA’s AI engine and the local Blockchain system create a two-fold defense against corruption: one that analyzes governance patterns to prevent misconduct, and another that makes any attempt at manipulation immediately traceable. This fusion of AI foresight and Blockchain transparency represents the next evolution of digital governance — not only modernizing public administration, but embedding integrity into its very architecture.
CENTRO’s development and deployment are supported and validated by multiple highly credible institutions and experts from the academe, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and national government agencies (NGAs) — ensuring that its processes, data frameworks, and audit mechanisms meet the highest standards of integrity and compliance.
“The difference,” said Prof. Voxstra Corbett, Founder and CEO of PhilCentro Technologies, the team behind CENTRO, “is that we built this system not to expose corruption after it happens — but to prevent it from ever taking root. The impact of clean governance goes beyond transparency — it builds confidence. When investors see integrity at work, they invest more boldly. That means more jobs, more innovation, and greater convenience for our citizens. It’s not impossible for us to become like Singapore or Japan. It’s about time.”
Through the MyNaga App, available on both Android and iOS, citizens are not just observers but active participants. They can report issues, verify project progress, and contribute directly to oversight — closing the feedback loop between government and the governed.
In essence, ProTrak, powered by AIRA AI Labs and local Blockchain, is more than a management tool — it is a new governance infrastructure that proves good government can be built, secured, and sustained through Filipino innovation.
This move builds on Naga’s longstanding reputation as the Home of the Center for Good Governance, with a legacy of:
· National recognition as a Model LGU for Transparency and Accountability;
· Consistent compliance with the Full Disclosure Policy of the DILG; and
· Citizen-led digital participation initiatives that inspired the CENTRO framework itself.
The announcement has since ignited national conversation, with Filipinos expressing pride and hope in seeing a local government lead by example — one that governs with both technology and integrity.
As the rest of the nation wrestles with accountability, Naga City quietly set the new standard.
And in doing so, it reminds us all that the future of good governance doesn’t begin somewhere else—It begins in Naga.
This press release has also been published on VRITIMES
