Aquino pushes for blockchain technology to modernize budget processes

Sen. Bam Aquino —PHOTO FROM SENATE SOCIAL MEDIA UNIT

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate has sought to modernize budget transparency and accountability through the use of “blockchain technology” in a bid to make the national budget publicly available, ensure accessibility, easy to understand, and open for citizen engagement.

During Thursday’s hearing of the Committee on Science and Technology, Aquino said the proposed Senate Bill No. 1330 or the Philippine National Budget Blockchain Act will strengthen collaboration across the executive and legislative branches of the government, civil society organizations and other stakeholders who play a vital role in sustaining and deepening democracy.

“By no means this is the only solution, but many of us here believe that this can be one of the major solutions to our problems. Putting the budget on the blockchain is a way to ensure that every peso of the people’s money is monitored,” Aquino stressed.

“The bill is a possible solution so that every Filipino knows how the country’s money is being spent. Blockchain was also made a priority because it is transparent, honest, and secure,” he added.

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According to Aquino’s proposed measure, blockchain technology provides a powerful tool for this transformation, and its design guarantees accountability.

“Through blockchain, all budget transactions become transparent, immutable, auditable and accessible to citizens in real time,” said Aquino.

While the national budget is one of the most important instruments of governance, Aquino said documents related to it have remained closed, highly technical and difficult to understand, making oversight almost impossible even for those who want to scrutinize them.

“This ensures that every peso can be tracked by the public. No more ‘fly-by-night’ contractors. No more hidden projects unknown to local governments,” he said, adding that prices of materials can be easily compared across contracts.

“To put our national budget on the blockchain answers many concerns and issues with our current system, where there are insertions and ghost projects. The public can see how people’s money is spent,” he said. /cb