Marcos Orders Congress to Prioritize CADENA Act, and Key Other Bills

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directed the Senate and the House of Representatives to prioritize the passage of the Citizens Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) Act, a measure that seeks to utilize the best technology (currently blockchain) to institutionalize transparency in public finance.

The directive was issued during a meeting with the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) on Tuesday morning, December 9, Inquirer reported.

According to Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro, the President instructed congressional leaders to “take a closer look” at the bill and ensure its passage “as soon as possible” as the recent report from Manila Bulletin.

The CADENA Act: Blockchain for Accountability

Also known as the “Blockchain the Budget Act,” the CADENA Act by Sen. Bam Aquino aims to overhaul how government funds are tracked and monitored. (Read more: Bam Aquino’s CADENA Bill Receives Full Support of Senators)

The proposed measure mandates that all government agencies upload and maintain critical budget-related documents. This includes contracts, project costs, bills of materials, and procurement details into a Digital Budget Platform called “CADENA”.

By leveraging blockchain technology, the bill seeks to create an immutable and publicly accessible ledger of government expenditures. This would allow the public to scrutinize where taxpayer money goes in real-time, significantly reducing opportunities for corruption and misuse of funds.

The push for the CADENA Act comes amid intensified public demand for fiscal accountability, following recent controversies involving infrastructure spending. (Read more: CADENA Act to Enable AI Assistants Like ChatGPT in Government Budget Queries)

LEDAC Meeting Details

The instruction was delivered to top legislative leaders present at the LEDAC meeting, including Senate President Vicente Sotto III, House Speaker Faustino Dy III, and Majority Leader Sandro Marcos.

In addition to the CADENA Act, the President also certified three other measures as urgent:

• The Anti-Dynasty Bill: Seeks to prohibit relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity from holding concurrent national elective posts.
• Independent People’s Commission Act: Proposes the creation of a body with subpoena powers to investigate anomalies in government infrastructure projects.
• Party-list System Reform Act: Aims to reform the party-list system to ensure it serves marginalized sectors and reduces corruption.

The council also agreed on timelines for the passage of the General Appropriations Bill during the session.

This article is published on BitPinas: Marcos Orders Congress to Prioritize CADENA Act, and Key Other Bills

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