Paper trail no more: House to adopt blockchain by 2026

The House of Representatives on Tuesday vowed to do away with the paper trail and shift entirely to blockchain technology by 2026 to strengthen its commitment to transparency, particularly in the budgetary process, as the ghost of the graft-tainted 2025 budget continues to haunt the institution.

Speaker Bojie Dy declared that such an ambitious reform would make the Philippine Congress the first legislative body in Asia to use blockchain technology, designed to boost transparency in government institutions by permanently logging all legislative records—specifically allocations, disbursements, procurements, and expenditures—in the budget.

This makes the spending plan tamper-evident, more traceable, and with fewer chances of corruption.

The House chief announced the planned transition a day after Congress adjourned its session for a month-long holiday break following the ratification of the P6.793-trillion national budget for next year. The enrolled measure for the 2026 General Appropriations Bill has already been transmitted to President Marcos Jr. for review.

“We’re doing this because we believe that transparency is not just an aspiration or slogan; it must be implemented and practiced,” he said in Filipino.

“I recognize that you continue to seek accountability. We are in a critical juncture in our history marked by deep disappointment… We will do everything we can to ensure that we will never fail you,” he added.

Another salient characteristic of blockchain is that the general public and oversight institutions can access a transparent record of all government financial transactions in real time.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology will take the lead on the initiative once it rolls out next year.

Earlier this month, Marcos ordered Congress to prioritize the passage of four key bills aimed at restoring public trust in government amid the alleged large-scale corruption scheme involving flood control projects.

This includes, among others, the Citizens Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability, or the CADENA Act, filed by Senator Bam Aquino.

The provisions of CADENA are similar to blockchain, mandating that all records of the national budget, including project allocations and procurement transactions, be registered in the system as digital public records.

The Senate already passed the measure on final reading on December 15.

A counterpart measure has been filed in the House, though it has yet to advance at the committee level.