PLM reps clinch 2nd Place in AFP Ideathon 2025 

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) representatives won 2nd Place in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Ideathon 2025 held in Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Nov. 13. 

Fourth-year Computer Engineering students Leila Arowen A. Dumindin, Jhon Aldrin P. Bilbao, Vincent T. Leyva, Jan Arthur P. Libao, Ezekiel M. Pagsuguiron, John Lloyd B. Barbacion, Josephine T. Peralta, and Ricki Mae P. Vicente competed against various universities nationwide in proposing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) related projects that can be used for national defense. 

The group presented LinkBand-X: A Mesh-Enabled Distress and Positioning for Squad-Level Tactical Communication. According to Dumindin, this project aims to solve the vulnerable communication system among soldiers, which could potentially affect their coordination and safety.

“They would be empowered with reliable, infrastructure-independent, wearable mesh technology for continuous connectivity, rapid distress signalling, and real-time awareness in the most denied environments. Through this engineering innovation, we can have a resilient, living network ensuring that every signal saves a life,” she said in an online interview with AP.

Among the 52 participating teams, three representative groups from PLM made their way to the Top 8 Projects, who were able to pitch their proposals at the event. Dumindin’s group initially ranked 7th in the preliminaries. 

With the theme, “AFP and the Academe: Building Strong Partnerships for Innovation and Self-Reliance in ICT,” the champion of this year's competition is the University of San Carlos-Cebu City, while the University of San Jose-Recoletos secured third place.