Making Civic Tech Real: Dasig.org Joins SaaScon PH '26 Inner Circle

For the longest time, Dasig existed only inside my laptop. It was a collection of local files, database tables, and code snippets that I stared at during late nights in Cebu, wondering if anyone else would ever care.

But last May 12, 2026, something changed. Dasig went out into the physical world.

We made it to the SaaScon PH '26 Inner Circle. We were invited to set up our very first exhibition booth, standing side-by-side with some of the most exciting startups in the country. The event took place at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Newport, Pasay City (2 Resorts Drive, Pasay, Metro Manila). It was very far from my home base in Cebu—a highly intentional, challenging, but completely necessary trip. Seeing those banners standing there in that room was a massive milestone for us, and honestly, a deeply emotional moment.

Two banners, a laptop, and a high-top table. For the first time, Dasig felt real outside the screen.

The Founder-Funder Matchup

The main event for the startups selected for the Inner Circle was the Founder-Funder matchup. It was a rapid-fire, high-energy session: ten different investors, three minutes per pitch, and then rotate.

Pitching Dasig face-to-face to ten experienced venture funds and investors was surreal. I had to distill our entire vision—not just as another charitable app, but as a systemic operating system and B2B2C infrastructure for Philippine civic action—into a tight, punchy narrative before the timer rang.

Dasig listed among the Top 10 Startups in the SaaScon PH '26 Inner Circle.

The quiet hours behind the banners

When you look at event photos or social media flyers, everything looks clean, professional, and exciting. But behind those two banners stood months of building alone.

For the longest time, ako ra isa naghimo ani (I was the only one building this). There were countless late nights filled with self-doubt, short bursts of confidence, and then immediately back to questioning everything. I went through health struggles, financial uncertainty, and sacrifices that often made me wonder if I was losing my mind.

As I was building Dasig, I reached a point where I couldn’t work properly anymore. I couldn’t freelance consistently. I couldn’t earn the way I used to because my brain was completely obsessed with this project. I was pouring almost everything I had into an infrastructure platform that didn’t even feel real yet.

But I kept building anyway.

“You only see the event photos, but behind this is months of building alone, uncertainty, health struggles, sacrifices, and continuing even when things didn’t seem to make sense.”

Why we do this

Whenever the self-doubt crept in, I forced myself to remember why I started.

Dasig was born from a simple but touching memory: after the 2025 earthquake in Northern Cebu, I watched local vendors and children in Catmon handing out bingka (rice cakes) and bottles of water to volunteers who were driving up north to Bogo. No spreadsheets, no complex coordination, just pure, immediate community care.

It made me realize that the people doing civic work deserve better systems and all the support we can give them.

Nonprofits, volunteer networks, local organizers, and community leaders shouldn’t have to run life-saving operations on scattered spreadsheets, disconnected tools, messy chats, and manual tracking.

So, slowly, despite the doubts and the lack of funding, I started coding Dasig. We are building a robust, interoperable standard—a shared language for civic action—where real work automatically organizes, connects, and scales.

This is just the start

Seeing those two banners standing there at SaaScon hit me harder than I expected. It was just two small banners, an early beta platform on a laptop, and still mostly just me behind it. But for the first time, Dasig felt real outside the code editor.

Being recognized as part of the SaaScon Inner Circle validated that the ecosystem is ready for systemic civic technology. We aren't just building a side project or a temporary tool; we are building a multi-sided infrastructure designed for national scale.

To scale this standard across the Philippines, we are opening our doors to values-aligned partners. We are now actively inviting angel investors, seed funds, and ESG-focused investors who want to support structural, bottom-up civic innovation.

To the volunteers and organizers doing the heavy lifting on the ground: I hope this platform reaches you and makes your life a little easier.

Dasig ta!