MANILA, Philippines — Negros Occidental Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez has presented a proposal that would develop and regulate Artificial Intelligence during a summit organized by the Management Association of the Philippines and accounting firm KPMG.

Benitez, who heads the the Technical Working Group for Artificial Intelligence at the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology and is the leading voice of the "Artificial Intelligence Development and Regulation Act,", said in his speech at the MAP-KPMG Technology Summit that responsible regulation and economic competitiveness are not opposing goals.

"We should not stifle innovation, but we regulate the risk," he told the more than 300 delegates at the summit held June 30 at the Shangri-La at the Fort.

He added that framing a credible AI law as an asset for Philippine business rather than a burden on it.

His proposal consolidated 26 bills, three resolutions, and a privilege speech into a single substitute bill, establishing a phased Philippine AI Commission under the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Among its core features include a Bill of Rights for every AI user, a regulator that must meet defined readiness requirements before it can exercise its powers, and clear prohibitions on the most harmful uses of the technology, among them AI-generated abuse imagery and AI-enabled vote manipulation.

Benitez said that the draft was built on existing Philippine institutions and tailored to survive constitutional challenge, telling delegates that the team compared international frameworks but did not copy them.