Senate passes bill creating digital budget portal to boost spending transparency

THE Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a measure that will boost transparency in government spending by establishing a digital budget portal accessible to the public.

With 17‑0-0 vote, the chamber passed Senate Bill No. 1506 requiring all government agencies to upload and regularly update budget documents, including contracts and procurement records, on a digital platform. “I

f you look at this transparency measure, if the current investigation were not happening, I think it would have no chance [of being approved],” Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, who authored the measure, said in a statement after its approval. The bill i

s among President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr

.’s legislative priorities, which he elevated last week alongside other transparency reforms as his government faces widespread allegations of corruption. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio var bw

Dfp = (f

unction() { var _adTypes = { billboard: [970,250], leaderboard: [728, 90], halfpage: [300, 600], medium_rectangle: [300, 250], rectangle: [180, 150], wide_skyscraper: [160, 600] } var _identifyAd = function(adSizes) { var length = adSizes.length; for(var prop in _adTypes) { if(_adTypes.hasOwnProperty(prop)) { if(_compareAd(adSizes, _adTypes[prop])) return prop; } } }; var _compareAd = function(adSizes, adType) { for(var i = length; i--;) { if(adSizes[i] !== adType[i])

return false; } return true; }; return { identifyAd: function(adSizes) { return _identifyAd(adSizes); } } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'

&l='+l:'';j.as

ync=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.pa