By BusinessWorld,Cedtyclea
Copyright bworldonline
In recent weeks, headlines have once again been dominated by corruption scandals surrounding infrastructure projects. Allegations of ghost projects, padded contracts, and manipulated bidding processes within the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have sparked both anger and despair among ordinary Filipinos. For many, this feels like déjà vu: we have seen this movie before, and the ending is always the same — taxpayer money gone, accountability missing, and trust in our institutions further eroded.
But what if, instead of waiting for government reforms that may never come, the private sector itself took the lead in building a transparent system to monitor all public projects? For decades, corruption has been treated as an inevitability in the Philippines. It is time to flip the script. The tools to do so already exist.
At the heart of our governance crisis is a massive trust gap. Budget releases, bidding documents, change orders, disbursements, and project completion reports are scattered across multiple agencies and often buried in paper trails. By the time anomalies surface — if they ever do — the money is gone, and accountability is elusive. This is not just inefficiency; it is systemic vulnerability. Every fragmented record is an open door for manipulation. Every opaque transaction is an invitation to corruption. Filipinos have grown accustomed to this opacity, but in a digital age, we must demand better.
Most people associate blockchain with cryptocurrency speculation. But blockchain’s most powerful use case is not financial speculation — it is trust without intermediaries. By design, blockchain systems create tamper-evident records: once an entry is validated by multiple independent parties, it cannot be altered without leaving a trace. Imagine if every peso released for a DPWH project, every contract awarded, every change order approved, and every progress milestone achieved were recorded on a blockchain validated not by government alone, but by a consortium of private sector, civil society, academe, and media institutions. Each record would require multi-party signatures before it became final. Each daily ledger could be anchored to a public blockchain, ensuring no backdoor edits were possible. This is not a futuristic concept — it is an available, tested technology. And unlike past “good governance” pilots that depended solely on government agencies, this system would rest on the principle of shared custody of truth. No single office, politician, or bureaucrat would control the record.
Why must the private sector lead? Because public frustration with government-only solutions has reached a boiling point.
Citizens no longer believe that self-policing will work. The only credible way forward is for independent validators — business groups, universities, NGOs, professional associations, and news organizations — to jointly monitor the ledger of public projects.
This is not about replacing government. Agencies like the DPWH, Department of Budget and Management, the Commission on Audit, and local government units would still provide the source documents. But instead of those documents disappearing into filing cabinets, they would be hashed, logged, and validated across a multi-stakeholder blockchain. A public explorer and open data portal would allow journalists, researchers, and ordinary citizens to see project progress in near-real time.
The financing can also be insulated from political influence. A blind trust, funded by corporate and philanthropic donations, can support the technical infrastructure, security audits, and validator operations. Donors would not gain governance rights; decision-making would remain in the hands of a broad, balanced community.
For each project, the ledger would track identity details such as project ID, title, location, implementing office, contractor, and procurement reference numbers. It would log the entire budget trail: allotments, releases, obligations, disbursements, and change orders. Procurement events, from pre-bid to award notices, contract execution, and variation directives, would be preserved as immutable records. Delivery and quality milestones — progress billings, geo-tagged photos and videos, lab test results, and as-built plans — would be linked with cryptographic proofs. Oversight artifacts such as site inspection reports, third-party audit notes, citizen feedback tickets, and Freedom of Information links would complete the picture. Every entry would carry the multi-party digital signatures of independent validators, and any dissent would also be recorded, creating a visible trail of contestation rather than silent suppression.
There is a unique window of opportunity to act. Public attention is focused on corruption in infrastructure, while interest in blockchain is growing beyond cryptocurrencies. Internationally, countries from Nigeria to Estonia are using blockchain to monitor identity, voting, and procurement. Filipinos are ready to demand the same standard of transparency. If we miss this moment, frustration will once again fade into cynicism. Worse, the cycle of scandal will continue — costing billions in wasted funds and perpetuating inequality as essential services remain underfunded.
The fight against corruption cannot be left to government agencies alone. Just as communities once built roads, schools, and bridges through bayanihan*, today we must build a new kind of infrastructure: a digital bayanihan against corruption. Private sector organizations — from chambers of commerce to professional associations — can take the first step by joining as validators. Universities can contribute data science and policy expertise. Media outlets can serve as independent watchdogs. NGOs can provide citizen feedback and advocacy. By working together, we can create a system where integrity is verified by many, not hidden by a few.
Every corruption scandal provokes outrage, but outrage alone does not change systems. The challenge is to convert protest into practice — to build mechanisms that make cheating nearly impossible and accountability automatic. Blockchain is not a silver bullet. But it is a foundational safeguard that reduces discretion, increases transparency, and empowers citizens to verify the record themselves. Combined with civic participation and sustained oversight, it offers the best shot we have at breaking the cycle.
The private sector has long called for good governance. Now is the time to prove our commitment by building it. If we succeed, every Filipino taxpayer will finally have a reason to believe that their hard-earned contributions are building roads, bridges, and schools — not ghost projects and lining politicians’ pockets. The choice is stark: continue lamenting scandals as they recur or seize the tools of technology and bayanihan to rewrite our governance story. The latter is difficult, but it is the only path to a future where integrity is not a campaign promise, but a daily practice.
*Bayanihan – communal effort
Dr. Donald Patrick Lim is the founding president of the Global AI Council Philippines and the Blockchain Council of the Philippines, and the founding chair of the Cybersecurity Council, whose mission is to advocate the right use of emerging technologies to propel business organizations forward. He is currently the president and COO of DITO CME Holdings Corp.
