More measures against corruption
The Senate approved last week a bill putting the national budget process on a digital platform in an effort to promote transparency and prevent corruption. Passed on third and final reading was Senate Bill No. 1506, or the Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (Cadena) Act, which will require all government agencies, including state-owned corporations, to upload on a digital portal their detailed budget-related documents, including contracts, project costs, bills of materials, and procurement records.
The system is designed to ensure that all files are publicly accessible, tamper-resistant, traceable, and verifiable. The proposed bill calls for the establishment of a National Budget Blockchain System, which will record all stages of the national budget process. A blockchain, familiarly associated with cryptocurrencies, will maintain a secure and decentralized record of transactions. “Applied to the management of public funds, blockchain can make every peso traceable, every transaction auditable, and every record tamper-proof,” stated the explanatory note of SB 1506.
But this measure comes with a caveat. If the pieces of information uploaded to the blockchain are inaccurate, then that information cannot be corrected. What becomes crucial is the process that will ensure that the data to be transmitted to the blockchain are accurate.
Transparency mechanisms
Emphasis should be given to the composition of the National Budget Transparency and Accountability Council that will monitor compliance, enforce standards, and recommend improvements to transparency mechanisms across the national government.
The Cadena bill becoming law is also contingent on the House of Representatives passing the same. Sen. Bam Aquino, principal author of the Senate bill, has called on the House of Representatives to expedite action on the measure’s counterpart, House Bill No. 6761 or the measure creating the Government Hub for Information and Verified Expenditures, filed last Dec. 10 by Negros Occidental Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez. A more expeditious way is for the House to act on what Mamamayang Liberal party list Rep. Leila de Lima filed on Dec. 18. Her HB 6898 fully adopts all the provisions of what the Senate has approved, which when passed by the House will do away with the need to reconcile any differences and the bill can be immediately sent to the President for signing into law.
More than the Cadena bill, the government needs to undertake a host of measures to truly stamp out corruption. The private sector has actually done part of the work.
Time-bound reforms
The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), Institute of Corporate Directors, Justice Reform Initiative, and Institute for Solidarity in Asia issued last week a joint statement proposing a set of time-bound reforms the government can adopt to protect taxpayer money, especially those allotted for infrastructure projects.
By Jan. 1 next year, they suggested that the government implement a system to automatically flag suspicious payments that must be complemented by the disclosure of beneficial ownership starting March 1. This can be done by integrating the ownership data from the Securities and Exchange Commission with tax records from the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The data will then be linked to the Modernized Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (mPhilGEPS) to enable real-time verification.
By March 31, the groups said the government needs to move toward full transparency in disbursements and contracts by making these available online and linked to mPhilGEPS. It is suggested that this initially be piloted with the Department of Public Works and Highways, the agency at the center of the flood control scandal.
Citizen oversight
By April 1, they said the government must establish a policy to initiate a joint audit within 90 days of identified red flags indicating potential irregularities. By June 30, the private sector groups recommended that a public dashboard tracking delays, cost overruns, and repeat contract winners should already be in place.
They recommended that the Independent Commission for Infrastructure or a similar oversight mechanism must lead compliance monitoring, transparency enforcement, and early-warning systems. The courts, citing the Sandiganbayan in particular, must prioritize the swift resolution of major corruption cases. The groups noted that other countries have adopted similar frameworks and “many have succeeded in reducing corruption.”
The Cadena bill’s enactment will indeed mark a significant move in public financial management and increase citizen oversight of government spending. However, the measure alone is not enough. The government needs to implement a host of other programs and heeding the clamor of the private sector is a good starting point. As the joint statement of the groups led by MAP warned, “delays perpetuate impunity, signal tolerance for corruption, and erode public trust in the rule of law.”
