Who Stands Behind Twala: DOST, ARTA, the Supreme Court, and the IBP
Twala is a DOST-backed legal technology company and a Supreme Court-accredited Electronic Notarization Facility, recognized by ARTA and partnered with the IBP. Here is what each of those means for you.
Any company can put logos on its website. What counts is what an institution actually did: fund the work, accredit it, recognize it, or put its own members on it. Here is that record, institution by institution, and what it means for the people who sign and notarize on Twala.
The Supreme Court: accreditation after years of input
On August 5, 2026, the Supreme Court accredited Twala as an Electronic Notarization Facility (ENF) under the Rules on Electronic Notarization (A.M. No. 24-10-14-SC), one of the first three providers accredited. The Court’s announcements name it as Ohelio Inc.’s Twala, after the company that operates it. Accreditation came after years of work with the Court: Twala’s input on electronic notarization began in July 2020, while the rules were still being drafted. The October 19, 2026 launch, where the country’s first two eNotarized documents were notarized on Twala, was held in partnership with the Supreme Court.
Accreditation sets a floor that every facility must meet, from identity checks consistent with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ e-KYC rules to liveness detection, geolocation, tamper-evident security, and a link to the Supreme Court’s Central Notarial Database. For you, it means an electronic notarial act on Twala has the same validity, force, and effect as a traditional one, and every notarized document is uploaded to the Court’s database. Our guide to choosing an eNotarization platform covers what to look for above that floor.
DOST: public research funding
In August 2022, the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCIEERD) awarded Twala a ₱4.6 million grant through its Startup Grant Fund Program. Twala also has a research and development partnership with DOST’s Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI), and DOST was among the partners of the October 19 launch.
The platform under your documents was built in the Philippines, with support from the government’s science agency.
ARTA: recognized for cutting red tape
In October 2024, the Anti-Red Tape Authority named Twala an Ease of Doing Business Champion of 2024. Of the 21 awardees, Twala was the only one that was not part of government. ARTA Director General Secretary Ernesto V. Perez was at the October 19 launch, where he said: “Let’s build a modern digital first economy where trust is encrypted, processes are seamless, and every Filipino feels that the government is their partner in success.”
ARTA exists to make government service faster and simpler. Its recognition means Twala’s tools were judged useful for exactly that: less paperwork, faster turnaround, and more accountability in the documents that government and the public exchange.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines
On January 12, 2026, Twala and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) signed a national partnership at the IBP’s office in Ortigas. It brings webinars, seminars, and training on digital signatures and electronic notarization to IBP members, discounted packages for Twala’s eSignature and eNotary services, and support for the IBP’s Unified Legal Aid Service (ULAS). IBP National President Atty. Allan G. Panolong called the partnership “an important step in the modernization of legal practice.”
On October 19, the two went further. One of the first two documents eNotarized in the Philippines was an IBP agreement under which participating lawyers give free online consultations to eligible beneficiaries using Twala, and Twala provides free eNotarization credits for eligible indigent clients. See our post on the program.
If you are looking for a notary, the partnership means Electronic Notaries Public drawn from a bar of more than 50,000 lawyers, each of whom confirms completing Twala’s ENP course before applying to notarize on the platform.
UP College of Law
The other document notarized at the launch was an agreement with the University of the Philippines College of Law. It covers capacity building in legal technology, access to legal tech solutions, policies and frameworks for the use of AI in legal practice, ease of doing business, and legal research and innovation. Dean Gwen Grecia-De Vera joined the forum that followed the signing, and Twala’s co-founder and General Counsel, Atty. Third Bagro, teaches at the college.
As Twala puts more AI into legal work, the agreement connects that work to the people who teach and study the law. Our view on using AI responsibly is in using AI in legal practice without losing control of the work.
Land registration, corporate filings, and real estate
Property transactions depend on notarized documents more than most. Twala and the Land Registration Authority (LRA) held a webinar on electronic notarization that drew more than 800 attendees, and the LRA was a partner of the October 19 launch. LRA Administrator Atty. Gerardo P. Sirios has been open about what has to happen before titles and registrations go fully digital, from a clear policy on accepting electronic documents to the systems of allied agencies. “We are really very excited. We have sent our position paper to the Supreme Court to address these issues,” he said.
On October 13, 2026, the Supreme Court signed joint memorandum circulars with the LRA and with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on accepting and using eNotarized documents in their transactions. Twala also briefed the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations (CREBA) at its general membership meeting in August 2026. What works for property transactions today is in eNotarization in real estate.
Business and industry groups
Twala has worked with the groups that represent the organizations most likely to notarize in volume. With the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Quezon City chapter and IBP Quezon City, it held a webinar for businesses in May 2026. The National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) signed a two-year contract in 2023 to digitalize the cooperative sector. The Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) was a partner of the October 19 launch, and Twala has presented its digital signature platform to more than 300 employees of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).
Across all of its customers, Twala serves more than 600 companies and more than 1.3 million individual users.
Standards bodies
Since March 2023, Twala has been a member of the Cloud Signature Consortium, the global organization that develops standards for cloud-based digital signatures, and it is the consortium’s only Philippine member. Twala’s platform is aligned with the consortium’s standards, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ e-KYC and authentication guidelines, and NIST’s Digital Identity Guidelines (SP 800-63-3), and it is built to comply with the Data Privacy Act of 2012. Twala is also working toward certification under ISO/IEC 27001, the international standard for information security management, with an internal information security management system already in place.
Standards are what let a Twala document be checked outside Twala. Anyone can confirm a notarized document’s blockchain anchor, and a PDF reader that checks digital signatures, such as Adobe Acrobat, can show whether the file has changed since it was sealed. Twala’s verify page is the reliable check. See how HashOrigin works.
Awards along the way
Twala was named Tech Innovator of the Year at the KMC Startup Awards 2025, and its CEO, Engr. Jeffrey Reyes, was named to the Esquire Philippines 2024 Trailblazers List. Earlier, Twala was the first-ever Grand Champion of the La French Tech Startup Competition in 2022, received a ₱1 million investment from IdeaSpace, and made the Echelon Top 100.
Backing is not a substitute for checking
None of this asks you to take Twala’s word for anything. Every document sealed on Twala can be verified by whoever holds it on Twala’s verify page, and its blockchain anchor can be checked without relying on Twala as a single point of trust. That is the standard Twala holds itself to: trust you can check. More on our trust center and About page.
