Marcos EO taps tech like blockchain for gov’t spending transparency
President Marcos has signed an order institutionalizing an online system monitoring public spending as part of the government’s bid to use blockchain and other emerging technologies to promote transparency.
This comes as a measure seeking to expand citizen access to government expenditure data is still stalled in Congress.
The President signed Executive Order (EO) No. 126 embedding the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) Compass portal into existing financial, procurement, monitoring and digital systems.
Compass, which the DBM launched in June, stands for Centralized Open Monitoring Platform for Appropriations and Spending Statistics. It is a searchable platform where the public can track government expenditures by agency, funding source, purpose and fiscal year.
But the EO, signed on Monday and published on the Official Gazette website on Tuesday, expands Compass beyond tracking how much the government allocates and spends.
It transforms the portal into the government’s unified, publicly accessible platform for budget, expenditure, procurement and program performance information.
‘Right to know’
“Like a compass that points the way forward, this platform allows our people to see and track where their hard-earned money goes,” Mr. Marcos said.
It also allows Compass to utilize “distributed ledger technology, including but not limited to blockchain or other emerging technologies, for the disclosure, consolidation, and publication of budget, expenditure, procurement, and other transparency-related information.”
It further directs national government agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned and -controlled corporations and government financial institutions, to submit and regularly update information required by the DBM.
Local government units are also encouraged to use the platform.
It is designed to provide information on the actual implementation of programs and projects, including their financial performance, implementation and completion status, procurement information, and other transparency-related data generated throughout the national budget cycle.
It would also include information on programs and projects financed through public-private partnerships and foreign-assisted programs, as long as these involve public funds coursed through national government agencies or other relevant government mechanisms.
“Transparency and accountability should not be complicated. The Filipino people have the right to know how their money is being used, and whether that spending is delivering results,” Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Every peso comes from the people. They should be able to see where it goes, what it pays for, and what the government delivers in return,” he added.
It may also be linked to existing government financial, procurement, monitoring and digital systems, including the Integrated Financial Management Information System, Budget and Treasury Management System, Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System, Digital Information for Monitoring and Evaluation, and the eGov PH App.
The EO, however, excludes information prohibited from public disclosure under existing laws, including data that could compromise national defense and security, or violate the Data Privacy Act.
Cadena bill
A related measure, the proposed Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (Cadena) Act, remains pending in Congress.
Cadena seeks to expand public access to information on government spending and would require all budget and transaction information to be recorded in a distributed ledger system, potentially using blockchain, with records designed to be traceable and resistant to unauthorized alteration
Instead of citizens having to search through different agency websites and thousands of PDF documents, it would bring budget information into one system.
This would allow the public to keep track of government spending, from the budget allocation, procurement, awarding and payment of contracts, to project implementation, according to Sen. Bam Aquino, the Cadena bill’s main author.
The Senate approved its version of the Cadena bill in December last year. Counterpart House bills are still pending at the committee level.
