Senator Bam Aquino recently introduced Senate Bill No. 1330, also known as ‘Blockchain the Budget Bill,’ which aims to utilize blockchain technology for the national budget.
This bill proposes establishing a National Budget Blockchain System to promote transparency, accessibility, and accountability in the management of the national budget.
Aquino emphasized that, although the national budget is a crucial document, it remains largely hidden from public view. Furthermore, he noted that it’s difficult to understand and nearly impossible to access for oversight.
“This bill seeks to modernize budget transparency and accountability through the use of blockchain technology. The goal is not only to make sure that the budget is publicly available, but also to ensure that it is accessible and open for citizen engagement,” says Sen. Bam.
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FinTech Alliance Philippines, one of the country’s largest fintech groups, supports the bill filed by Sen. Bam to enhance transparency of the national budget.
The budget could serve as an ideal use case for blockchain technology because no single person can modify the content without everyone’s knowledge, which has been a contentious issue with the 2025 national budget.
If the bill passes and becomes law, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), along with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Commission on Audit (COA), will develop a blockchain-based budget system. All records of the national budget will be maintained as digital public assets (DPAs).
To briefly explain, blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrency. It is a decentralized digital ledger shared across a network of computers, making it resistant to tampering. Since data is stored in chronological “blocks” linked in a “chain,” any alteration would require the consensus of the entire network.