PANABO CITY – Four student teams from Davao del Norte State College (DNSC) secured places in the Top 10 of the Philippine Startup Challenge Regional Pitching Competition, organized by the Department of Information and Communications Technology Region XI (DICT XI) on October 26, 2026, at Aulsons Cafe, June Subdivision, Davao City.
Out of 103 entries submitted to the competition, DNSC fielded nine teams, with four advancing to the Top 10 through their technology-driven solutions addressing concerns in emergency response, disaster coordination, and public safety.
Leading the College’s delegation, Team Quanta clinched second runner-up with D1ALERT, an offline-first emergency alerting system that combines discreet gesture activation, physical button presses, and artificial intelligence to identify crisis situations and transmit encrypted emergency messages with location information to authorized responders and local government command centers. The system is designed to facilitate emergency reporting when conventional communication methods are difficult to access.
The team is composed of Kristoff Dave Cabag, Charles Jerico H. Villapa, and Thonette Micate, all Bachelor of Science in Information Systems (BSIS) students from Section 3A, under the mentorship of Aldrheila Lonzaga.
Team Ergo secured fourth place with ONWAYS, a real-time emergency response platform connecting the public, ambulance crews, dispatchers, and hospitals through a shared system. Its features include ambulance tracking, estimated arrival times, emergency request submission, route guidance, and fleet monitoring to support coordinated emergency response. The team consists of Aljun A. Fajardo, Fritz Andrei C. Danoco, and Kristin Joy S. Plando, also BSIS 3A students, mentored by Lonzaga.
Team Agos Sentinels earned seventh place with AGLOW, an artificial intelligence-powered platform that combines real-time flood and rainfall data with historical leptospirosis surveillance records to forecast potential disease cases. The system is designed to help local government units and Department of Health regional offices anticipate possible surges, prioritize high-risk communities, and prepare medical supplies ahead of time. The team comprises Joebelle Y. Genota, Vince Keth R. Maarat, and Ciarlien Ruth C. Eturma, all Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) 4H students, under the mentorship of Dr. Mark Van M. Buladaco.
Completing DNSC’s Top 10 finishers, Team ReliefSync placed ninth with its offline-first disaster coordination platform. Designed for local government units, disaster response offices, schools, and humanitarian organizations, the system integrates evacuation center monitoring, relief inventory tracking, community needs reporting, volunteer assignments, and emergency task coordination, including data synchronization during connectivity disruptions. The team is composed of Jerald June Asis, Matthew Cretecio, and Paul Adrian Paculanang, mentored by Stacey Nicole Marie Monta.
Five other DNSC teams also submitted entries to the regional competition. These were Team PediGo, with its application PEDIGO, mentored by Monta; Team PCP-IS Solution, with FINUITY, and Team BIG, with MOVEO, both mentored by Justine Paula Arriesgado; Team THREEKEYS, with HABI-Air Health and Air-Based Intelligence, mentored by Buladaco; and Team MNLTech, with APRIL (Automated Printing and Retrieval Intelligent Locker), mentored by Jovito Bolacoy Jr. Further instructions and subsequent steps will be communicated by DICT XI.
