Philippine Commission on Elections Excludes Blockchain Technology from 2028 Election Budget

According to BitPinas, George Garcia, Chairman of the Philippines’ Commission on Elections (COMELEC), announced that, following a recommendation from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the blockchain technology component and voter verification system have been removed from the 2028 national election budget—reducing the total budget from the originally planned PHP 25 billion to approximately PHP 19 billion. Garcia stated that these features were deemed non-essential, and their removal was motivated by budget optimization and data privacy risks. Blockchain technology had previously been discussed multiple times for integration into the Philippines’ Automated Election System (AES) to prevent ballot fraud and enhance data transparency; however, it has now been formally excluded. COMELEC emphasized that preparations for the 2028 national elections remain on schedule, with procurement procedures for new automated vote-counting machines expected to commence between August and September 2026, and contract awards targeted for early 2027.