Asenso Center inaugurated

Grab Philippines and MOVE IT formally inaugurated the Asenso Center in Marikina City on Thursday, a facility designed to advance digital inclusion and professionalize livelihoods for Filipino platform workers.

The one-hectare center, which broke ground in December 2024, is the nation’s first dedicated livelihood hub for the gig economy. It will focus on the onboarding, training, skills assessment, and upskilling of Grab driver-partners and MOVE IT rider-partners.

It aims to streamline access to social protection through guided enrollment with the Social Security System, Pag-IBIG Fund and PhilHealth, complemented by micro-insurance and welfare protection from private providers. It also seeks to accelerate AI-enabled earning opportunities for Filipinos.

“Grab is one of the Philippines’ most mature platform-work ecosystems, and that gives us a precise, ground-level understanding of what Filipino platform workers and micro-entrepreneurs truly need to thrive,” said Grab Philippines country managing director Ronald Roda. “The Asenso Center turns that insight into action. It opens dignified, digitally powered livelihoods, equips our partners with practical AI co-pilots, and helps families convert opportunity into income at scale.”

Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda underscored the vital role of the gig economy, describing Grab and MOVE IT partners as the “frontline of the digital economy.”

“In every trip you take, there’s a child who gets to eat, tuition that gets paid and medical bills that are settled — that’s the future. This is what real change looks like — you are the frontline of the digital economy,” Aguda said.