Budget transparency through blockchain
It has been two weeks since mob justice took the form of exposing the lavish lifestyles of government employees and contractors, and online crusaders have not stopped. Through Reddit threads like r/lifestylecheckPH and r/KabanniJuan, people continue to share stories that paint a clearer picture of how extensive and scarily efficient corruption is carried out in the country.
One viral post came from an engineer who used to work in a construction company that bagged several DPWH projects. He detailed how every single person gets a cut: from the congressman, to the procurement officer, to the bank manager who processes the checks. He shared how contractors already have a preselected “winner” even before the bid officially begins, and that the bidding documents themselves were just copied and pasted and constantly rehashed. Even worse, he claimed that girls, including minors, were routinely given to DPWH engineers as “gifts.” Disgusted, he resigned but chose not to file any complaints, knowing how many powerful people were involved and how easily they could have him killed.
As I mentioned in last week’s column (9/1/25) “trial by social media,” has become the public’s imperfect but effective way of pushing back against impunity, and its impact is now translating into real-world consequences. Last week, an angry group of protesters stormed the house of the Discaya family, prompting Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto to remind people not to resort to violence. The Senate has already subpoenaed several DPWH officials and contractors, including an employee whose collection of luxury cars and watches was impossible to justify on a P50,000 monthly salary.
While these have felt satisfying and somewhat cathartic, we cannot keep relying on the confessions of scorned whistleblowers or exposés by anonymous Redditors for accountability. This is where Sen. Bam Aquino’s recent proposal deserves attention and discussion. Through Senate Bill No. 1330, Aquino is pushing for a National Budget Blockchain System that would help make the national budget more “traceable, transparent, auditable, and accessible to citizens in real time.”
There are various examples of how other governments have successfully integrated blockchain technology into their processes. In Peru, the government’s public procurement agency started using blockchain in 2018 for the electronic recording of purchases. Since then, over 50,000 purchase orders have been logged and monitored through its electronic catalog platform. In Brazil, they have the Online Bidding Solution, which consists of an application that allows public administration agencies to carry out bids for the purchase or contracting of goods, services, and construction. It also allows suppliers from across the country to submit proposals and monitor the results of the bidding.
If applied to our national budget, a digital, decentralized public ledger would give real-time access to citizens, auditors, and oversight bodies. Since every transaction could be tracked throughout its lifecycle, suspicious activities are easier to identify. Blockchain, on its own, cannot end corruption: under-the-table deals, collusion, and bribes can still happen outside the system. What it can do, however, is make corruption easier to identify. Overpricing, ghost projects, and suspicious contractors can be spotted early, not years after the money has already disappeared and been spent on the indulgences of their nepo spouses and nepo children.
Of course, pursuing the technology (or any new system-wide reform) will come with its own implementation challenges. While blockchain is generally tamper-proof, its effectiveness still depends on the accuracy and truthfulness of the initial input. Experts have also pointed out other technical considerations like transaction speed, scalability limits, and the risk of security breaches in other applications built on top of it. That said, Aquino’s bill provides an opportunity for lawmakers and experts to engage in deeper discourse to identify how potential issues could be properly addressed through proper oversight mechanisms, regulatory frameworks, and capacity-building initiatives.
A national budget blockchain can strengthen the larger anti-corruption ecosystem. Since anyone could go to a public portal and study every contract, disbursement, and delivery report, an ordinary citizen will now be empowered to actively monitor government performance. According to Aquino, someone even suggested placing a QR code on every project signage. Watchdog groups like the media, nonprofits, and academic institutions can translate technical budget data into stories that people can understand and help mobilize public pressure whenever certain irregularities are seen.
The difference is between punishing a few who were caught in the act and creating a system where misuse of public funds is much more difficult to hide. The National Budget Blockchain System alone will not clean up corruption in government. But by embedding transparency into governance infrastructure, it can hopefully shift the balance of power away from existing dynasties and their accomplices, and back into the hands of the people they claim to serve.
