The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is advancing a bold digital governance strategy that harnesses blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) to minimize corruption and improve transparency in the Philippines’ public sector.
DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said the agency plans to record the 2026 national budget on a blockchain platform, providing an immutable and auditable record of government transactions. Alongside this, the department intends to deploy AI-powered analytics to detect suspicious activities in procurement and fund disbursement.
“Technology can make corruption harder to hide,” Aguda said during the VST ECS CXO Tech Summit 2025 in Boracay, where he outlined DICT’s vision for a more accountable digital government. “By combining blockchain’s transparency with AI’s pattern recognition, we can strengthen trust in how public funds are spent.”
Immutable records, smarter oversight
Under the plan, blockchain would serve as a tamper-proof ledger, ensuring that once a financial record is entered, it cannot be altered without detection. This would allow both auditors and citizens to trace public funds in real time—enhancing accountability in budget allocation, contracting, and implementation.
Meanwhile, AI systems would continuously analyze budget and procurement data to flag irregularities—such as repetitive vendor wins, inflated bids, or unusual transaction timelines. These alerts would serve as early warnings for oversight bodies before funds are lost to fraud or inefficiency.
A model for digital integrity
Aguda, who previously led major digital transformation initiatives in the private sector, emphasized that the Philippines already has the technical expertise to develop a prototype blockchain system for government transparency, which DICT aims to present to Congress in 2026.
He added that emerging technologies like robotic process automation (RPA) and AI-driven verification tools can reduce human discretion in critical workflows—further limiting opportunities for manipulation.
Promise and prudence
DICT acknowledges that technology alone cannot eliminate corruption. Poor data quality or flawed inputs could still compromise results, and institutional reforms remain vital to sustain integrity.
Still, Aguda believes that blockchain and AI can change the game by embedding machine-enforced transparency into government operations. “If we design these systems well,” he said, “we can make corruption not just illegal, but technically impossible.”
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