Philippine senator proposes putting the national budget on-chain to promote transparent management

Philippine Senator Bam Aquino proposed at the Manila Tech Summit to record the national budget on a blockchain platform to enhance transparency and accountability in government spending. This initiative aims to allow citizens to track the flow of every peso. Although a formal bill has not yet been submitted, the plan will be based on the existing blockchain platform of the Philippine Department of Budget and Management (DBM). Local blockchain company BayaniChain expressed support for the initiative but emphasized that blockchain is not a panacea for eradicating corruption.

Senator Calls for Budget On-Chain to Enhance Transparency

At Wednesday's Manila Tech Summit, Philippine Senator Bam Aquino put forward a bold initiative: to record national budget transactions on the blockchain for greater transparency and citizen oversight. He stated, "No one would be crazy enough to put transactions on the blockchain, recording every step and making it transparent to every citizen. But we want to start." Aquino believes that if this goal is achieved, the Philippines could become the first country in the world to fully integrate its national budget onto the blockchain.

Although the proposal has attracted attention, Aquino admitted he is unsure how much support it will receive. So far, no formal bill regarding a nationwide blockchain-based budget management system has been submitted, and his representatives have not immediately responded to media requests for comment.

Based on Existing Blockchain Platform

If the plan is officially implemented, it will rely on the existing blockchain budget management platform of the Philippine Department of Budget and Management (DBM). This platform is Asia's first real-time on-chain budget system and is already used to record some financial documents. Aquino's proposal would further expand on this foundation, enabling the entire national budget transaction process to be recorded on-chain and publicly verified.

BayaniChain, the local blockchain infrastructure company providing technical support for the DBM on-chain platform, welcomed the proposal. Paul Soliman, co-founder and CEO of BayaniChain, said, "Senator Aquino's vision aligns with ours—to build a more transparent and accountable system for the Philippines." He further pointed out that while blockchain technology is not a "magic bullet" for solving corruption, its immutable record-keeping can effectively enhance accountability among government officials.

Technical Architecture and Operational Mechanism

BayaniChain's technical solution connects DBM's internal systems with public blockchains through its platform Prismo. Prismo acts as an orchestration layer responsible for data processing, encryption, and verification. Key budget documents, such as Special Allotment Release Orders (SARO) and Notice of Cash Allocations (NCA), can be published online and verified and protected via blockchain. DBM's budget platform uses Polygon's Proof-of-Stake network (an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible scaling solution) as the consensus and transparency layer, ensuring the security and traceability of records.

Outlook and Challenges

Aquino's proposal brings new possibilities to public financial management in the Philippines. By putting the budget on-chain, the government can not only enhance spending transparency but may also provide a replicable model for other countries. However, the implementation of blockchain technology requires overcoming multiple technical, legal, and political challenges. BayaniChain's Soliman emphasized that transparency is the core advantage of blockchain, but achieving comprehensive on-chain budgeting will require broad collaboration and support.

Summary

Senator Bam Aquino's proposal marks another innovative attempt to apply blockchain technology in public governance. Although a formal bill has not yet been submitted, the plan based on DBM's existing platform provides a technical guarantee for budget transparency. In the future, if implementation obstacles can be overcome, the Philippines may become a pioneer in digitalized budget management globally, setting an example for other countries.

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