THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is turning to blockchain as its weapon of choice against corruption, banking on the technology’s permanence to protect government transactions from tampering or erasure.
ICT Secretary Henry Aguda said blockchain’s strength lies in its design: data stored on the chain cannot be altered or deleted, creating a permanent, verifiable record of transactions.
Aguda described this feature as an ‘immutable ledger’ that would allow the public to trace everything from budget allocations to actual purchases, ensuring a single version of the truth.
‘The nice thing about it is it’s immutable. So if there [is] anything unusual in the database, even if you don’t see it now, you can still find it down the road,’ he said. ‘You have an immutable ledger, meaning it will forever be there. It’s a single version of the truth.’
The DICT chief said this digital safeguard comes at a critical moment, as the government grapples with revelations that some Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) employees tampered with or wiped out project records that could have implicated them in the multibillion-peso flood control corruption scandal.
The Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) recently disclosed that some files had been destroyed, complicating efforts to establish accountability for projects that were either substandard or never built at all.
‘[With blockchain] the data is not stored in one place, it’s distributed. It’s not like we can just delete or destroy the server,’ Aguda said.
At the same event, FPJ Panday Bayanihan Party-list Rep. Brian Llamanzares, vice chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, pushed House Bill 4489, or the proposed Blockchain for Government Transparency Act.
The House measure seeks to mandate that the entire national budget be placed on blockchain, ensuring citizens can independently verify every peso allocated, released, and spent.
‘When we’re talking about blockchain and how it works, we want all government transactions to be verified on the chain. What we’re doing is putting digital infrastructure in the Philippines that allows people to view these through a public portal,’ Llamazares said.
Marc Boiron, the CEO of blockchain company Polygon Labs, noted that ‘putting a national budget on-chain shows a bold commitment to transparency and accountability.’
‘This is exactly the point of blockchain technology, and it positions the Philippines as a leader that others will want to follow,’ he said.