The Baguio City government launched Katibayan, a blockchain-based public records system carrying 246 city ordinances and 106 infrastructure contracts valued at more than P275.5 million, city officials announced Wednesday.
Developed by technology firm BYC Ventures (BayaniChain Tech Inc.), the platform uses cryptographic blockchain anchoring to secure public documents and integrates artificial intelligence to enable city officials and residents to audit procurement records and detect spending anomalies. The platform succeeds GoodGovChain, a blockchain transparency system piloted by the city in 2025. (Read More: Baguio City to Pilot GoodGovChain – Blockchain Governance Platform by BayaniChain)
Katibayan operates on Lumen, BYC Ventures’ operating system utilizing Google Gemini AI and Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure. The system currently archives city records spanning from 2021 through 2026, with additional municipal documents undergoing archiving.
“When I was an investigator in the Philippine National Police, most of the time you could only detect an anomaly in a project if someone reported it, if someone spoke up, if someone testified,” Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said. “Now that we have evolved from the original blockchain to Katibayan, we can use artificial intelligence to detect potentially anomalous projects.”
Inside city hall, municipal departments can access a single database to analyze public works, municipal legislation and procurement data simultaneously. For the public, the platform allows users to query spending and policy records using plain-language questions.
“In the long term, Katibayan is about preserving evidentiary data, creating digital records that can endure beyond administrations, systems and political cycles,” BYC Ventures Chief Executive Officer Paul Soliman said.
The local deployment comes as national lawmakers consider the Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) Act. The bill, authored by Senator Bam Aquino and passed by the Senate in December 2025, mandates national government agencies to adopt blockchain technology for public record preservation. The measure is currently pending in the House of Representatives. (Read More: Aquino, SEC, Expresses Support for Baguio, Bayanichain’s Blockchain Governance Push via GoodGovChain)
This article is published on BitPinas: Baguio City Deploys Blockchain Records System Katibayan Covering P275M in Contracts
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