DICT wants livestream of budget hearings secured via blockchain

BORACAY, AKLAN, Philippines — After President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pushed for the livestreaming of the budget hearings at the bicameral level, his secretary at the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) wants to take budget transparency a step further and keep the recordings using blockchain technology.

This way, said DICT Chief Henry Aguda, any amendments on the proposed 2026 national budget would be stored in a decentralized “immutable” ledger to be made available to the public.

“It’s not enough that we livescast (the hearings) on Facebook or (other platforms). What we need to do is to put them on a blockchain,” Aguda said during the third day of the CXO Tech Summit organized by VCT ECS Philippines here.

According to Aguda, this is one way to eliminate, if not totally eradicate, corruption in the bureaucracy, specifically the budgeting process, as no less than Marcos and lawmakers have already pitched the use of technologies to enhance transparency in allocating and spending public funds.

READ: Marcos: Budget bicam talks to be livestreamed

So far, DICT has signed an agreement with Polygon, a tech firm providing blockchain services, at no cost to the government through a grant. The amount, however, is still being negotiated from $5 million to $10 million.

“Whatever the amount, they will provide the grant for free… And that’s more than enough money to put the 2026 budget on the blockchain,” he said.

Allaying security concerns, Aguda stressed that the government would not be tied down with Polygon as the agreement laid out conditions that DICT could eventually leave and move to other networks.

The DICT chief said he is also already in talks with members of both chambers of Congress regarding the proposal, and to convince them, he would put the details of the current 2025 budget and conduct a “demo” for the lawmakers to understand the real-world use of the blockchain technology.

“The (Malacañang) will have its own blockchain, DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) will have its own blockchain, and the chains will connect,” he explained.

A type of shared database or ledger, blockchain stores data, keeps them linked together and protected from alteration.

At the upper chamber in Congress, Senator Bam Aquino filed last month Senate Bill No. 1330 that seeks to institutionalize the use of blockchain in the government’s budget process to make it more secure and accessible to the public.

Eight similar bills also pushing for putting the budget in the blockchain have also been filed in the lower House.

It is not the first time that the use of blockchain technology in democratic procedures has been broached to enhance transparency.

READ: Blockchain-based election proposed

Before the 2025 elections, a local tech firm also suggested that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) introduce a blockchain-based polling system to curb vote manipulation that takes place during data transmission. /cb