Sen. Bam Aquino has urged the House of Representatives to pass the CADENA Act, a proposed budget transparency law, following deadly flooding that renewed questions over the government’s use of billions of pesos for flood-control projects.
The Senate approved Senate Bill No. 1506, or the Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability Act, on third and final reading on Dec. 15, 2025, with 17 affirmative votes, no objections, and no abstentions.
The House, however, has yet to act on the measure seven months after its Senate approval, despite its inclusion among the 21 priority bills endorsed by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council in February 2026.
“It is time to enact the CADENA Act, or the Blockchain the Budget Bill, which will provide the public with a clearer and easier way to monitor where government money goes and how it is spent,” Aquino said.
Aquino renewed the call after Typhoons Luis and Maymay and the southwest monsoon caused severe flooding in Metro Manila, Southern Luzon, Northern Luzon, and Central Luzon. At least 19 people were reported dead, while thousands were displaced.
“With the budget season approaching, it is even more important to establish a stronger system for monitoring where every peso of public money goes and how it is spent,” he said.
The proposed law would require government agencies to upload and regularly update budget-related documents — including contracts, project costs, bills of materials, and procurement records — on a Digital Budget Platform.
The records would be publicly accessible, traceable, verifiable, tamper-resistant, and maintained through an open-source system. Officials who fail to disclose required documents or upload fraudulent information could face administrative and criminal penalties.
Aquino said the latest flooding has again raised questions about the effectiveness and implementation of government flood-control projects.
“It has been more than a year since we called for an investigation into the government’s flood-control projects, but the issue remains unresolved. Until now, flooding continues to cause severe hardship to the public,” he said.
Aquino filed Senate Resolution No. 28 on July 29, 2025, seeking an investigation into the country’s flood-control program.
“The public must be clearly informed where the billions of pesos allocated for flood control are going and how the money is being used. This is public money — our taxes — which should benefit the people,” he said.
“We need a system that provides continuous transparency and accountability in the use of public funds to prevent the theft that contributes to the severe flooding we now see on our streets,” he added.
“With the CADENA Act, we will have a system to ensure that the people’s money is properly used, while holding accountable those who stole public funds and recovering what was taken from the national treasury,” Aquino said.
