Aquino, civic groups press House to pass budget blockchain bill

Senator Bam Aquino and an alliance of more than 250 multi-sectoral organizations are calling on the House of Representatives to immediately pass the Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) Act, according to Edge Davao.

The Senate passed Aquino's measure, Senate Bill No. 1506, on third and final reading in December 2025 with a unanimous 17-0 vote. The counterpart bill in the House has seen no action for nearly nine months, the report said.

If enacted, the law would require a tamper-proof digital ledger showing every peso of the national budget, from appropriation through procurement to final disbursement, open to public view in real time. Aquino described the bill as a way to permanently end hidden line items, politicized pork and untraceable spending. Supporters from good-governance groups, tech firms and private volunteers have offered to build the blockchain platform for the government at no cost.

The renewed push comes as civic watchdogs raise concerns over the proposed 2027 National Expenditure Program. AJ Montesa of the People's Budget Coalition said the group found more than P1 trillion in red flags. By the coalition's count, these include P695 billion in so-called hard pork for politicized infrastructure projects, P210 billion in soft pork for patronage-driven social assistance or ayuda, and P112 billion in shadow pork placed in unprogrammed appropriations across agencies.

Montesa said the budget design forces ordinary Filipinos to depend on political endorsements to get basic healthcare and emergency aid. "It seems that the House wants us to get more sick so that we can beg more for our hospital bills," he said.

Aquino said the bill remains a priority measure but that legislators must be held accountable to ensure it passes soon. He argued that failing to act would signal opposition to transparency, and suggested that anyone blocking the measure may fear what it would expose. He urged the public to keep the discussion going online and continue calling for the bill's passage.