Philippine Senator Proposes Putting National Budget on Blockchain for Full Transparency

According to Decrypt, Philippine Senator Bam Aquino has proposed placing the country’s national budget on a blockchain platform, a move he says would allow every peso of government spending to be tracked by citizens in real time.

Speaking at the Manila Tech Summit on Wednesday, Aquino said the initiative could make the Philippines the first country in the world to put its entire budget on-chain. “If we’re able to do this, I think we’ll be the first nation to have our budget on the blockchain,” he said.

While no formal bill has yet been filed, Aquino’s idea would build on the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) existing blockchain-based platform, which already publishes select financial documents online. The system was developed by BayaniChain, a local blockchain infrastructure provider.

BayaniChain co-founder and CEO Paul Soliman welcomed the senator’s remarks, noting that while blockchain is not a “silver bullet against corruption,” it creates immutable records that strengthen transparency and accountability.

The DBM platform currently allows the publication and verification of key budget documents such as Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) and Notices of Cash Allocation (NCAs). Data handling, encryption, and validation are managed by Prismo, while Polygon’s Proof-of-Stake network serves as the consensus and transparency layer.

If expanded nationwide, the project could mark a major milestone in the use of blockchain for public finance, positioning the Philippines as a pioneer in government budget transparency.