David Almirol Jr. says the proposed blockchain-based transparency framework under the CADENA Act may eventually require more than 600 locally hosted nodes—one for nearly every government entity handling taxpayer funds.

In an interview with BitDigest.io, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) undersecretary used the government’s existing eGovChain infrastructure as a reference point to explain how a future CADENA implementation could operate at national scale.

Almirol clarified that eGovChain and the proposed CADENA rollout are separate initiatives. However, he said the current eGovChain architecture offers a practical model for understanding the kind of decentralized node structure needed for CADENA to fulfill its transparency goals.

The proposed system under CADENA is envisioned as a blockchain-based budget transparency network designed to create a verifiable “single source of truth” for public spending.

At present, eGovChain operates through three nodes hosted by major Philippine telecommunications firms:

• PLDT
• Globe Telecom
• Converge ICT

While the eGov ecosystem is not a CADENA Act implementation, he referenced the structure to illustrate why a future blockchain-based budget transparency system would require far broader participation.

“So since every data contributor kailangang meron silang sariling node,” he explained, noting that agencies directly responsible for public spending must actively operate nodes rather than simply consume data from elsewhere.

He cited agencies such as:

• Department of Public Works and Highways
• Department of Health

alongside government-owned corporations and state universities.

“Kung bibilangin natin,” Almirol said, “mga 600 plus.”

The Goal: A True ‘Single Source of Truth’

According to Almirol, the core principle behind the proposed architecture is ensuring that each agency remains the authoritative source of its own spending data.

“Kasi kung ikaw yung data contributor, dapat ikaw yung single source of truth,” he said.

He argued that agencies cannot simply rely on copied datasets or shared centralized repositories if the objective is genuine transparency.

“Mawawala yung single source of truth,” he added.

Under the framework he described:

• Agencies would publish spending data directly to the chain
• Transactions would become visible across the network in near real time
• Public records would become significantly harder to alter retroactively

The emphasis is less about blockchain as a buzzword and more about creating verifiable accountability infrastructure for public finance.

Public and Private Participation Also Envisioned

Almirol said the long-term vision also includes participation from the private sector and the public.

Citizens, organizations, and developers could potentially:

• Run independent nodes
• Build monitoring dashboards
• Access APIs for analytics and validation
• Contribute commentary and oversight on government projects

“Halimbawa o itong project na ‘to ah bulok,” he said, describing how citizens could use transparency tools to flag questionable or incomplete projects.

Those not operating full nodes could still function as validators through public-facing API systems.

Why Domestic Node Hosting Matters

A major part of the discussion centered on data sovereignty. Almirol acknowledged that a large portion of the Philippine government’s current digital infrastructure relies on foreign cloud providers such as:

• Amazon Web Services
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud

But for any future blockchain-based budget transparency system, he said localization should be prioritized.

“At least sa budget man lang,” he said, “dapat maganda yung mga nodes natin localize.”

The concern involves:

• Sovereignty over public financial records
• Reduced dependence on foreign jurisdictions
• Maintaining integrity of taxpayer data

While private participants may still use their own cloud providers, the government-facing infrastructure for budget transparency would ideally remain domestically hosted.

A Hybrid Public-Consortium Blockchain Vision

Almirol described the proposed architecture as hybrid in nature:

• Government agencies would operate the consortium layer
• Public visibility and validation would remain open

“Ibig sabihin it will be both hybrid,” he said.

The structure attempts to balance:

• Administrative coordination
• Transparency
• Decentralized verification

Unlike many blockchain projects associated with speculative crypto assets, the proposed use case here focuses on governance infrastructure and public accountability.

The discussion offers one of the clearest public explanations so far of how Philippine officials are thinking about blockchain in the context of state transparency—not as a cryptocurrency initiative, but as infrastructure for monitoring public spending. If pursued, the framework could represent one of Southeast Asia’s largest experiments in blockchain-enabled public finance transparency.

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