Virgilio Lorenzo Jr

Marcos ‘shakes hand’ with robot while visiting Converge data center

Article (news)

Harlene Delgado

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited a data center in Angeles City, Pampanga Friday, a week after his order to update government data classification, establishing a data residency framework. </p><p>Marcos went to the Angeles Data Center of fiber broadband and digital infrastructure provider Converge ICT Solutions Incorporated.</p><p>He was joined by Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda, Converge CEO and Co-Founder Dennis Anthony Uy, and Angeles City Mayor Jon Lazatin. </p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=2080475948504465501&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2026-07-24T08%3A38%3A14.144709%3A271c9e0c-c643-4d52-88d3-17c73ca2959b%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=c180cdf2c6256539ffcdb60b7f667ad3aff7ee72&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:550px;height:601px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="2080475948504465501"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><p>There, he ‘shook hands’ with the humanoid robot &quot;Convo&quot; and interacted with the dog robot &quot;Convi&quot;.</p><p>In a press release, Converge said it is offering its 12-megawatt AI-capable Angeles Data Center —which also houses its Cloud system—as a localized &quot;sovereign cloud&quot; for the government. </p><p>This is in line with the Executive Order (EO) No. 119 signed by Marcos this month, which updates the government’s decades-old data classification framework with the aim to “strengthen data sovereignty, enhance cybersecurity, and support the secure digital transformation of government through unified rules on data classification, data residency, and cross-border data transfer.”</p><p>“This infrastructure enables state agencies to migrate their systems out of costly, foreign-hosted servers and into a secure, highly protected facility operated entirely within national borders,” Converge said.</p>