In an emergency, the first call for help usually depends on someone being there to make it.
A Filipino-built technology wants to change that.
Alerto, developed by WiredField Philippines, uses artificial intelligence and connected sensors to help detect emergencies and relay information to responders — potentially before anyone picks up a phone.
The technology has just won first place in the professional category of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines’ 2026 Socially Relevant Technologies Contest, beating other innovations in a competition centered on AI-powered solutions for climate-resilient communities.
But the award may be less interesting than what Alerto is attempting to do outside the competition.
When the alarm can call for help
Alerto is designed to connect devices such as smoke detectors, flood and gas sensors, CCTV cameras, burglar alarms and other Internet of Things devices to a decentralized emergency-response network.
When a connected device detects danger, the system can automatically send alerts to property owners and nearby responders. Its command-center component uses remote sensing, aggregated data and AI to give local governments information intended to improve situational awareness and response.
In practical terms, a flood sensor detecting rising water or a smoke alarm detecting a possible fire could become more than a device making noise inside a building.
It could become a source of data for responders.
Founder and CEO Cristina Macaraig said the idea grew partly from her experience working with local governments and nonprofits on monitoring, evaluation and geographic information systems after spending a decade in the United States working in software development and product marketing.
“Here in the Philippines, those systems were either too expensive, too complex, or simply not available for regular households,” Macaraig previously said.
Her team has conducted pilot testing in Quezon City and Tagaytay, with smoke alarms installed in fire-prone areas and flood alarms deployed in areas vulnerable to flooding in Quezon City. The company has previously said it aims to bring the technology to 100 local government units.
Its relevance to the Philippines
The technology is being developed in a country where early warning is not an abstract problem.
The Philippines ranked first in the 2025 WorldRiskIndex, according to IPOPHL, reflecting the country’s high exposure and vulnerability to extreme natural events and climate-related risks.
Government itself is moving toward more integrated disaster technology.
Earlier this year, the Department of Science and Technology launched Handa, a national platform bringing together hazard information, location-based alerts, incident reporting, interactive dashboards and AI-assisted tools. It integrates information from agencies including PAGASA, PHIVOLCS and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
That broader shift makes Alerto noteworthy not because AI itself is novel, but because it explores another part of the emergency chain: connecting what happens inside communities and individual properties with local response systems.
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has similarly identified substantial potential for AI in multi-hazard early warning, while cautioning that life-safety applications require human oversight, clear accountability and systems that remain accessible in low-connectivity environments.
Alerto’s consumer app was updated in July to include an offline mode, along with improved LGU maps and reporting functions.
From winning a contest to proving it works
Alerto took the top professional prize against technologies ranging from an augmented-reality urban hazard assessment system to an AI-powered disaster intelligence and wind-energy platform.
The competition, held at the University of Makati, carried the theme “AI-Driven Green and Inclusive Technologies for Climate-Resilient Filipino Communities.” Winners receive cash prizes as well as assistance in protecting their intellectual property.
IPOPHL Director General Teodoro Pascua said the goal extends beyond recognizing inventions to helping innovators protect and eventually bring their technologies to communities.
That next step may be the real test for Alerto.
Disaster technology has to do considerably more than perform well in a demonstration. It must work when networks are strained, sensors fail, information is incomplete and responders are already overwhelmed.
For Alerto, winning a national innovation competition establishes that the idea has promise.
Proving that an alarm can reliably become actionable information when lives are at stake would be the bigger prize.