LAMBO 2026, Cebu’s AI Business Summit, opens on June 27 at Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino with a keynote by Dr. Christopher Monterola on how artificial intelligence is reshaping the basis of competitive advantage for Filipino business. Co-presented by JCI Cebu, the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), and EXL, the one-day summit gathers Cebu’s business owners, sector leaders, professionals, and the next generation of Visayan talent around a single question: how organizations create real value from AI when intelligence itself is becoming abundant.
The summit is built on four pillars structured as a single arc, from the expert who frames the future, to the practitioners who demonstrate AI at work, to the sector leaders who run real organizations, to the next generation of operators competing on stage.
The Strategic Frame. The day opens at 9:30 AM with a keynote by Dr. Christopher Monterola, Aboitiz Chair in Data Science at the Asian Institute of Management and an Academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology. Titled “The AI Advantage in the Philippines: Competing in a World Where Intelligence Is Becoming Abundant,” the keynote traces a historical shift in the basis of competitive advantage, from capital, to information, to intelligence itself. The talk will examine real examples from Philippine companies, both successful and unsuccessful AI initiatives, and what distinguishes organizations that create measurable value from AI from those that remain stuck in experimentation.
The Unfair Advantage, Made Fair. Two Live Labs follow, where the AIM Master of AI and Data Analytics 2026 Cohort (MAIDA) applies AI tools to real Filipino companies in front of the audience, with applications any Cebuano business can adapt and use. The Live Labs demonstrate that problems which once required teams of consultants or enterprise infrastructure are now solvable with tools accessible to any micro, small, and medium enterprise.
When the Sectors Speak. Two Executive Panels span the day. The morning panel, “AI in the Daily Workflow,” gathers operators on how AI is changing everyday work across front-line industries. The afternoon panel, “AI in Sector Applications,” brings together leaders from government, education, agribusiness, and risk-facing industries. Both panels feature operators actively making AI decisions for organizations that employ thousands of Cebuanos.
Tomorrow’s Operators, On Stage Today. The day closes with the AI-Powered Business Case Competition Finals. Eighteen elite teams from six Cebu universities have completed three sessions of online training delivered by the AIM MAIDA 2026 Cohort. The top 10 teams advance to semifinals and five proceed to live finals on June 27, presenting AI-driven solutions to a real corporate/MSME case in front of judges drawn from the Cebu business community.
LAMBO 2026 is a not-for-profit fundraising event of JCI Cebu. Net proceeds from the summit fund Youth ACCESS, JCI Cebu’s AI literacy program for marginalized communities across the Visayas, with a committed donation to Everlasting Hope.
“For most of history, competitive advantage came from access to scarce resources. First, it was capital. Then it was information. Today, AI is changing the equation by making intelligence increasingly abundant and accessible,” said Dr. Christopher Monterola of his keynote. “In a world where intelligence is becoming abundant, competitive advantage will come from how effectively organizations combine human talent, data, and AI to drive growth and innovation.”
“LAMBO 2026 is built for the people running real businesses in this region,” said Joshua Toledo, Lambo 2026 Chair, JCI Cebu Inc. “This is not a tech conference. It is a working day designed to help Cebuano operators figure out where AI changes their work, where it does not yet, and what to do on Monday morning.”
