Building reliable legal AI for the Philippines takes far more than plugging a language model into a database. It requires complete local legal data, robust retrieval systems, and lawyers who continuously review every output.

That was the message from Anycase.ai at OpenAI Founder Day in Singapore, where it was one of just five Southeast Asian startups invited to present and the Philippines’ sole representative.

CEO and co-founder Beato Bongco said the company initially aimed to improve legal research for lawyers relying on Google and keyword-based databases. But the team soon discovered the real challenge: Philippine legal information is fragmented across more than 150 government agencies, with records scattered among outdated websites, scanned PDFs, image files and even physical archives.

Many records remain undigitized, incomplete, or difficult to access, limiting the effectiveness of general-purpose AI systems.

To solve this, Anycase.ai built its proprietary Legal Intelligence Layer, which collects, digitizes, organizes, and legally annotates Philippine legal materials.

Bongco introduced Kuya Ry, a data runner who visits government agencies, files requests, and retrieves documents unavailable online. Once collected, every document is reviewed by lawyers to ensure it is complete, current and legally valid before being added to the platform.

The company also tests the system using Philippine Bar-style questions and industry-specific legal scenarios to ensure every answer is backed by the correct controlling authority.

During the presentation, Bongco demonstrated how Anycase could guide a lawyer through a labor case by identifying legal issues, locating the applicable law, and outlining the next procedural steps.

The platform also cites the exact legal provision supporting its answer and links users directly to the original source document.

Rather than simply layering Philippine law onto a generic AI chatbot, Anycase says its edge lies in the infrastructure, local data pipeline, and continuous legal review behind every response.

“I’ve always believed the Philippines should not just be a market that imports software built elsewhere,” Bongco said. “We can build deep, local, domain-specific AI too.”