The Development Academy of the Philippines–Graduate School of Public and Development Management (DAP-GSPDM) has launched a new Executive Course on Emerging Technologies and Anticipatory Governance (ECETAG), aimed at strengthening futures thinking and digital leadership among public sector leaders.
Introduced this week, the flagship program seeks to equip government executives and policymakers with the skills needed to govern emerging technologies and respond proactively to rapidly evolving policy challenges.
The program was formally opened with keynote remarks from DAP-GSPDM dean Lizan E. Perante-Calina, who highlighted the growing pressures faced by governance institutions as technology reshapes public systems.
“If the future is already shaping today’s policy choices, are we governing it by design or inheriting it by default?” Perante-Calina said.
Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, program supervising fellow, presented the objectives of ECETAG, emphasizing its role in preparing futures-ready leaders and positioning GSPDM as a hub for policy innovation.
“The future of governance will be shaped not only by policy intent, but by how well public leaders understand and govern emerging technologies,” Batapa-Sigue said.
The ECETAG curriculum covers seven thematic areas, including artificial intelligence governance and data policy, big data and analytics, blockchain and financial technology governance, Internet of Things and robotics, quantum computing and frontier technologies, digital design and AR/VR for public service, and cybersecurity and public trust.
Teaching fellow Dominic Vincent Ligot underscored the importance of ambition in public sector innovation, noting that transformative ideas must be “big, bold, and ambitious” to have national impact.
“It’s not technology we’re leveraging: it’s the power of the Filipino people,” Ligot said.
During the launch, DAP-GSPDM also introduced the “Futures Commons: Foresight Research and Anticipatory Governance Conversations”, a year-long weekly platform for cross-sector dialogue on foresight and governance.
Both ECETAG and the Futures Commons form part of the Futures Thinking and Emerging Technologies (FTeX) Program, which focuses on building executive-level capabilities in artificial intelligence, data systems, financial technologies, and related fields.
The ECETAG course is scheduled to open in February 2026.
The program is supervised by Batapa-Sigue and Mark Rex Jayson T. Atole, program manager of the Sustainable Development and Regional and Local Governance Office, and managed by learning managers Kent Elmann Cadalin and Andrea Francesca S. Camago.
