The Manila city government is shifting its approach to transparency, moving away from delayed reporting and toward real time accountability embedded directly into its systems.
Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso signed a memorandum of agreement with the Qadena Foundation to launch a blockchain based governance model that records financial and administrative data at the moment it is created. The system aims to replace traditional transparency portals that publish information only after transactions have already taken place.
Present at the signing was PGMN Tech Anchor Ann Cuisia, who also serves as chairperson of the Qadena Foundation. Cuisia said Manila will serve as the pilot site for a broader blockchain framework tailored for local government units, beginning with the Assessor’s Office before expanding across departments.
The initiative will run on a Filipino built public Layer 1 blockchain under the Qadena ecosystem, designed to meet government requirements where transparency must align with privacy, confidentiality, and regulatory compliance. Financial and administrative records will be anchored directly from the city’s internal systems into a tamper resistant ledger, addressing long standing issues such as delayed disclosures, fragmented documentation, and limited verifiability.
The platform will operate on a hybrid consortium model, allowing participation from government agencies, civic organizations, and academic institutions as validators. By distributing validation across multiple stakeholders, the system shifts trust away from a single controlling entity and toward a shared governance structure.
Domagoso said the move builds on Manila’s previous digital initiatives, including the Go Manila App, while pushing transparency further into the core of governance. He said public service must not only be efficient but also grounded in accuracy and accountability, with technology ensuring that public resources are managed with visibility and integrity.
The rollout will follow a phased approach, starting with selected offices before expanding across the bureaucracy. The Manila deployment is expected to serve as a test case for other local government units exploring blockchain driven transparency systems, embedding accountability directly into how government data is created and managed.
