Beyond its power to transform, technology can also be used as a weapon against corruption and a tool for good governance, Vice President Sara Duterte said on Monday, Oct. 20.

The Vice President was the keynote speaker of the opening ceremony of the 51st Philippine Business Conference & Expo (PBC&E) at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

“Beyond physical development, digital transformation will be our strategic tool for better governance and nation-building. It is our tool to facilitate innovation and enhance our capabilities in delivering public services and responding to disasters, crises, and emergencies,” Duterte said.

“More importantly, it can be our weapon against corruption,” she added.

With the theme “The Future is Now: Unleash the Power of Digital Transformation,” the Vice President pushed for the digitization and automation of processes to make data and all government transactions transparent.

This, she pointed out, will leave “no room for scrupulous backdoor transactions.”

“We take away the power of corrupt leaders to manipulate public funds and capitalize on people’s money for their personal interests, greed, and political ambition,” she stressed.

Putting the people’s welfare as the “highest priority,” the official described technology as a “powerful tool” for checks and balances and paper trails that will “eliminate arbitrary and politically motivated decision-making, and prevent unconstitutional budget insertions to curry political favor at the expense of the people’s money.”

“If technology is a blessing to modern society, then let us use it to protect the people’s rights and welfare – the right to have better governance, the right to have better opportunities in our own homeland, and the strong political will to put our leaders in check when they have unforgivably gone beyond the authority that the people have vested in them,” Duterte said.

“Let us use technology and digital transformation as weapons to close the door where corruption once thrived, unchecked and unpunished,” she added.