Calling it a crucial tool against corruption in government, Camarines Sur 5th district Rep. Migz Villafuerte is pushing for the approval of a measure that seeks to institutionalize a proposed Digital Budget Platform and then mandate all government agencies and state-run corporations to upload their detailed budget documents onto this tamper-proof online public ledger.

Also known as the proposed “Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) Act,” Villafuerte’s bill requires all budget-related documents for mandatory uploading onto the proposed Digital Budget Platform.

These documents shall include contracts, project costs, bills of materials and procurement records.

“Having an open source platform online where budget-related data of all government offices shall be loaded onto and maintained  is the surefire guarantee that all such files are publicly accessible, tamper-proof, traceable and verifiable,” Villafuerte said.

The chairman of the Committee on Information and Communications Technology, Villafuerte hoped that the House would give priority to tackling this CADENA bill, now that the chamber is back in session after its yearend break and the Senate already cleared last December 2025 its version of this measure—Senate Bill (SB) No. 1506—that was principally authored by Senator Bam Aquino IV.

There is more reason for House members to pass the CADENA bill, says the congressman, given that this measure is among the 48 bills that President Marcos and the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) has listed for priority action by the 20th Congress.

Under the bill, the CADENA shall be “the primary access point through which the public may freely access, search, and download public budget data in open-source, interoperable, tamper-resistant, and structured digital format".

The proposed CADENA shall “provide features that promote transparency, accountability, and citizen participation, subject to tiered-access controls to protect personal data and national security information", and shall be “developed using distributed ledger technology, including, but not limited to, blockchain, secure data integrity technology, or other technology".

The budget process is defined in the bill as the entire cycle of planning, legislation, execution, and accountability through which public funds are proposed, authorized, released, disbursed and reported.

Villafuerte said his version of the CADENA bill was drawn substantially from the Aquino-authored SB No.1506, which the Senate approved on Dec. 15  via 17-0 vote.

He met with Aquino in January to discuss the CADENA bill and committed to the senator to push its approval in the House to lead to its hoped-for enactment into law.

“Nakipagpulong po tayo kay Sen. Bam Aquino na primary author ng SB No.1506 o Cadena Act o Blockchain Bill, kung saan ilalagay ang budget records at iba pang dokumento sa blockchain o kaparehas na teknolohiya para sa dagdag na transparency sa budget processes ng gobyerno,” he subsequently wrote in a Facebook post.

(We held a meeting with Sen. Bam Aquino, the primary author of SB No.1506, also known as the Cadena Act or Blockchain Bill, which seeks to place budget records and other documents on the blockchain or similar technology to enhance transparency in the government’s budget processes.)

Villafuerte’s bill mandates the government to maintain data integrity, which refers to the accuracy, consistency and reliability of data throughout its life-cycle. It ensures that public fiscal information has not been altered or tampered with after its creation.

The bill also tasks the government to harness a data embassy, which refers to a secure server or storage facility located outside the Philippines but placed under Philippine ownership, jurisdiction, and control, for data back-up and continuity of critical fiscal systems.

Under this bill, the CADENA shall include real-time channels for citizens and civil society organizations to report, track, and receive acknowledgment of verified discrepancies or irregularities in published data. 

The measure provides for criminal and administrative penalties against government officials who will fail or refuse to disclose required documents or who will upload fraudulent information.

The House has already approved 12 of these LEDAC measures since last year, of which nine bills were jointly authored by Villafuerte, Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. Luigi Villafuerte, Camarines Sur 1st district Rep. Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata and Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon.