‍MANILA, Philippines — The Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) Act is facing renewed scrutiny as lawmakers and business groups push for action on a transparency measure that has remained pending in the House months after securing unanimous Senate approval.

The bill, formally Senate Bill No. 1506, was approved by all 17 senators present for the vote on Dec. 15, 2025. It has since been awaiting action in the House of Representatives.

The delay has drawn fresh attention as Congress works on the 2027 national budget. Sen. Bam Aquino, the bill’s principal author, recently questioned why CADENA was no longer among the shortened list of Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) priority measures for the next 12 months.

The measure remains on LEDAC’s longer priority list, according to Department of Economy, Planning and Development Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, but was left out when government and congressional leaders narrowed the list of legislation they considered critical to advance over the next year.

For Aquino, the change raises a question of legislative urgency. CADENA had been treated as a priority measure in 2025 and 2026, yet its momentum appears to have weakened just as lawmakers are preparing another national budget.

From Senate approval to House delay

CADENA’s legislative journey began as the proposed “Blockchain the Budget” measure before being revised and renamed following consultations with government agencies, private-sector groups, technology companies and other stakeholders.

By November 2025, Aquino was presenting the proposal as a broader transparency measure rather than simply a blockchain initiative.

The Senate version would require national government offices and entities to publish budget-related information covering planning, legislation, execution, procurement, contract management and revenue collection. The proposal specifically includes contracts, project costs, bills of materials and other transaction records.

The Senate then approved the measure without opposition on Dec. 15, with 17 senators voting in favor and none against or abstaining. The next major step is in the House, where counterpart legislation and committee action are needed before the measure can advance toward passage.

That gap between Senate approval and House action is now becoming the central issue around CADENA.

Why the 2027 budget matters

The timing is significant because the 2027 budget will determine another year of government spending, including allocations for infrastructure and other large public projects.

Supporters of CADENA want the transparency mechanism established before funds move through the procurement and implementation process, rather than relying mainly on investigations after questions about spending have already emerged.

The proposed system would require agencies to place budget and transaction records on a public Digital Budget Platform. The information is intended to be structured, traceable, interoperable, open-source and tamper-resistant, allowing citizens and other observers to examine how public funds move through the system.

The bill also proposes penalties for failing to disclose required documents and for submitting false or misleading budget information. (⁠legacy.senate.gov.ph)

In practical terms, CADENA is designed to make records such as government contracts, project costs and bills of materials easier to locate and compare.

The blockchain component is therefore a means of creating a more traceable record, rather than the bill’s sole purpose.

Renewed pressure to move the bill

The renewed scrutiny comes after a year in which transparency over government spending has remained a major political issue.

Aquino has repeatedly argued that citizens should be able to follow public money through the budget process, including the details behind government projects.

During a Senate hearing on the 2027 budget, he questioned why CADENA had fallen out of the shorter LEDAC priority list after previously being included among priority measures.

Balisacan said the bill had not been removed from the broader LEDAC list. Rather, the leadership of Congress and the executive branch had shortened the list to focus on measures considered critical for the next 12 months.

DEPDev has since indicated that it would recommend restoring CADENA to the shorter priority list, adding another potential route for the bill to regain legislative momentum.

Business groups have also called for greater transparency and accountability in the 2027 budget process, adding pressure for stronger mechanisms to track public spending.

The question now is whether Congress moves

CADENA’s Senate passage demonstrated broad support in one chamber. Its more difficult test now lies in whether that support translates into movement in the House.

The bill still has to progress through the House legislative process before the two chambers can reconcile their versions and send a final measure to the President.

That makes the coming months important for CADENA.

If the measure is to influence how government spending is disclosed and monitored, its supporters want progress before another budget cycle is substantially underway.

For now, the bill’s status presents a straightforward legislative question: after unanimous Senate approval in December 2025, will the House move CADENA forward before the 2027 budget is implemented?

This keeps the scrutiny and timeline at the center, while avoiding the claim that CADENA itself would automatically prevent corruption. The ending also gives the reader a clear unresolved question rather than turning the piece into an advocacy statement.

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