DEPARTMENT of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Aguda and FPJ Panday Bayanihan party-list Rep. Brian Poe on Monday underscored blockchain technology as a vital tool to access transparency and accountability in the bureaucracy.
“Imagine a day where the citizens can inspect all the transactions of government…That’s the intention,” Aguda said a press briefing in Makati City, citing blockchain’s role as an instrument of “immutable database.”
“We saw that on the ‘Sumbong sa Pangulo’ website. They exposed the transactions. A lot of people investigated. Now, we’re here, the truth is coming out, so it’s like ‘Sumbong sa Pangulo’ website, but we take it at a much higher level,” he noted.
Poe, who filed House Bill 4489 or the proposed Blockchain for Government Transparency Act, emphasized the importance of public access to both the national budget and government transactions.
“When we’re talking about blockchain and how it works, we want all government transactions to be verified on the chain. What we’re doing is putting digital infrastructure in the Philippines that allows people to view these through a public portal,” Poe said.
“In the House of Representatives, we filed House Bill 4489, and this is our blockchain bill trying to make government more transparent by putting the budget on blockchain and making sure that all of the transactions with regards to that and the entire government budget would be publicly accessible and easily navigated by the public,” he added.
Also present at the press briefing were DICT Assistant Secretary Luis Miguel Planas, Polygon Labs chief executive Marc Boiron, BayaniChain chief executive Paul Soliman, and BayaniChain official Gelo Wong.
Boiron commended the Philippines’ leadership in blockchain adoption: “When I first heard what the Philippines is considering, I thought—here is a country that truly understands what blockchains are good for. Putting a national budget on-chain shows a bold commitment to transparency and accountability. This is exactly the point of blockchain technology, and it positions the Philippines as a leader that others will want to follow.”
Soliman, for his part, hinted at the readiness of blockchain for local implementation.
“The Philippines is ready for blockchain—not just in ideas but in real implementation,” he said,
“With DBM already tokenizing SAROs and NCAs, we’re proving that budget transparency can happen here and now. Blockchain ensures openness, civic participation, and a system where every citizen can verify how public funds are used,” Soliman added.
Aguda and Poe both underscored that the initiative was part of a wider effort to institutionalize digital transparency reforms.
Poe said his measure was complemented by a Senate counterpart filed by Senator Bam Aquino, ensuring a bicameral push for blockchain in governance.
