Two Camarines Sur lawmakers have filed a bill that would set rules for transactions carried out by artificial intelligence (AI) agents and keep the people and businesses behind those systems legally accountable.
House Bill (HB) No. 11014, the proposed “AI Agent Transactions and Accountability Act,” was filed by Rep. Migz Villafuerte of the 5th district and Rep. Luigi Villafuerte of the 2nd district. Migz Villafuerte chairs the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology. Luigi Villafuerte is a deputy majority leader.
The bill covers AI agents that negotiate, execute contracts and electronic documents, start transactions, and interact with application programming interfaces (APIs), smart contracts and other automated technologies, provided a person or entity has authorized them to do so.
Under the measure, AI agents would not gain legal personality or independent ownership rights. Acts an agent performs within the authority given by its principal, the person or entity that authorized it, would be legally attributed to that principal.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) would set up a voluntary registration system and a Digital Authority Credential framework. Third parties could use these to verify a principal’s identity and the extent of an agent’s authority without being given secret authentication information. Mandatory registration would apply only to narrowly defined high-value, high-risk or systemically significant autonomous transactions in areas where existing regulations are inadequate.
The bill also protects lawful digital asset ownership, self-custody, peer-to-peer transactions and open-source technologies. It would not require anyone to disclose private keys, seed phrases or passwords.
On liability, principals would generally be responsible for acts attributable to their agents. Exceptions include credential theft or compromise, unauthorized access, fraud, malicious interference by third parties, and certain failures beyond the principal’s control.
Knowing or willful violations involving fraud or deliberate circumvention of applicable laws would carry fines of ₱200,000 to ₱2 million, imprisonment of six months to six years, or both. These penalties would apply without prejudice to liability under other laws.
Good-faith third parties who rely on a valid Digital Authority Credential would be protected. Registered AI agents that carry out legally consequential autonomous transactions would have to keep proportionate transaction records.
The same lawmakers also authored HB No. 2827, the proposed “Artificial Intelligence Development and Regulation Act.” That bill supports the National AI Strategy for the Philippines and would create a broader framework for the development, deployment and regulation of AI, including dedicated oversight and policy bodies.
Both measures were filed in the 20th Congress as AI applications spread across homes, workplaces and schools. The proposed framework addresses risks such as the exposure of sensitive data and the spread of false and harmful information.
HB 11014 has been filed in the House of Representatives and has not been enacted into law.
