Senator Bam Aquino is pushing for the use of blockchain technology to make government financial transactions—and ultimately the entire national budget—transparent and accessible to all Filipinos.
Speaking at the Manila Tech Summit on August 27, Aquino said his vision is for the Philippines to lead the way in radical fiscal transparency.
“What you want to see eventually is that all government transactions and most importantly, the national budget will be on a platform that is fully transparent and can be checked by every single person,” Aquino said.
He admitted that few would dare to place every step of government spending on blockchain.
“No one’s crazy enough to put their transactions on blockchain where every single step of the way will be logged and transparent to every single citizen,” he said. “But you want to start.”
Aquino noted that no bill has been filed yet, but if the proposal moves forward, the Philippines could become the first country in the world to place its national budget on the blockchain.
The senator acknowledged the skepticism surrounding the adoption of emerging technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence—especially in a country where many still lack basic needs like classrooms, textbooks, and stable internet access.
“But by utilizing the right forms of technology—by making sure that this technology is available to more Filipinos and we’re able to use it the right way—we’ll be able, hopefully, to get the basics done and to jump a few steps towards the progress that we want,” Aquino added.