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Transforming Tollways Through People, Data and Digital Vision
Carlo Cagalingan, Chief Digital Officer and Chief Information Officer, Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation


Carlo Cagalingan, Chief Digital Officer and Chief Information Officer, Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation
Carlo Cagalingan is the Chief Digital Officer and Chief Information Officer at Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, where he leads enterprise-wide digital transformation and IT innovation. With prior leadership experience at Sun Life Philippines, he specializes in Agile, cloud solutions, and DevOps— driving operational excellence, project efficiency, and customer-focused technology solutions.
Through this article, Cagalingan highlights how digital transformation in tollways must balance innovation, safety, and customer experience through a people-first approach.
Defining the Dual Role: Chief Digital Officer and CIOThe roles are not mutually exclusive. The new breed of CIO has a strong pressing responsibility to digitalize the enterprise and think of new opportunities to use the digital world to our advantage. Our key priorities are the following:
Process automation to achieve operational efficiency.
Transformation of our current tolling operations by shifting to a barrier-free or open road set-up.
We are introducing AI to our decision-makers to support more informed decisions, enable faster communication with motorists, and enhance our data-driven culture.
Driving Transformation in an Infrastructure-Heavy IndustryTransformation in any industry has one critical component that anchors progress—the human factor.
Unique challenges include the limited number of vendors and partners who are driving innovation in the construction and engineering space. However, opportunities abound in mobility and transportation-related initiatives particularly in enhancing customer experience.
Balancing Innovation with Safety and Operational ReliabilityInnovation is first incubated, then subjected to series of testing through parallel runs alongside existing systems. The challenge lies in the fear of the unknown or untested systems, hence the need for strategy alignment, allocation of ample time and activities to ensure reliability and safety.
Not to mention that the government heavily regulates our company. As such, all systems that impact customer experience must undergo rigorous testing and evaluation.
A Culture-Driven Approach to CybersecurityThere’s no single solution that guarantees cybersecurity. What we do is balance two key areas: prevention and resilience. Regarding prevention, we measure ourselves against globally accepted frameworks like NIST to ensure our systems are aligned with best practices. On resilience, we maintain strong BCM protocols. We simulate real incidents to make sure our teams can respond fast and recover smart.
Protecting customer data is top priority. We treat it with the same level of importance as our physical infrastructure. That means tight access controls, layered security, encryption, audit trails — the works. We also monitor continuously and respond quickly to any sign of breach.
But tech isn’t enough. People are still our biggest risk—yet, our best defense. So, we run internal campaigns, phishing tests, and regular training. Our goal is to turn every employee into a cybersecurity champion. It’s part of the culture we’re building.
Cyberattacks will happen; it’s not a question of if, but when. The objective measure is how ready we are. And I’d say: the more we prepare, the luckier we'll get.
Advice for Modernizing Infrastructure Through Technology Embark on a customer journey mapping to design and architect how the organization interacts and engages with customers. This approach allows you to tailor-fit solutions to specific issues and pain points. Remember, technology follows the right customer experience and the company’s business strategy, not vice versa.