THE Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading Senate Bill (SB) 1506 putting the national budget process on a digital platform to promote transparency and ward off graft and corruption.
Voting 17-0-0, the senators passed the proposed Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (Cadena) Act, also known as the Blockchain the Budget Bill.
It mandates all government agencies to upload and regularly maintain detailed budget-related documents — including contracts, project costs, bills of materials, and procurement records — on a digital budget platform.
The system is designed to ensure that all files are publicly accessible, tamper-resistant, traceable, open-source and verifiable.
The measure’s approval came just days after the Cadena bill was included among the latest batch of priority measures listed by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council.
Sen. Bam Aquino earlier said that the strong public outcry against corruption and the growing call for accountability, amid the massive flood control scandal, created the momentum and opportunity needed for the bill’s passage.
The senator said SB 1506, which he authored, seeks disclosure of public documents and puts all of these documents “on blockchain.”
