President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has institutionalized the government’s online budget monitoring platform, strengthening the system that allows the public to track how government funds are allocated, obligated and spent.
Through Executive Order No. 126, Marcos formally established the Department of Budget and Management’s Centralized Open Monitoring Platform for Appropriations and Spending Statistics, or COMPASS, as the government’s unified and publicly accessible digital platform for budget and expenditure information.
The platform was launched in June and consolidates budget information from the National Expenditure Program and General Appropriations Act through allotments, obligations and disbursements. Users can search and monitor spending by department, agency, region, funding source, purpose and fiscal year.
Under the executive order, COMPASS may also publish information on the financial and implementation status of government programs, projects and activities, as well as procurement and other transparency-related data generated throughout the national budget cycle.
National government agencies and other covered government entities, including government-owned or -controlled corporations and government financial institutions, are directed to publish budget-related information required by the DBM on the portal. Local government units are encouraged to make their budget information available through the system.
The platform may also connect with existing government systems, including the Budget and Treasury Management System and the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System. The executive order allows the use of distributed ledger technology, including blockchain, and other emerging technologies to strengthen the platform’s capabilities.
The DBM will manage and operate COMPASS with technical support from the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Department of Finance. The Department of the Interior and Local Government will also consider the publication of required information on COMPASS when assessing local governments for the Seal of Good Local Governance.
The order also creates a COMPASS Council chaired by the DBM and co-chaired by the DICT, with the DOF and DILG as members. The council is tasked with setting policy direction and issuing implementing guidelines within 60 days from the order’s effectivity.
Not all government information will be made public. Data whose disclosure is prohibited by law, information that could compromise national defense or national security, and personal information protected under the Data Privacy Act will be excluded from the portal.
The institutionalization of COMPASS comes as Congress continues to consider the proposed Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability, or Cadena, Act, which also seeks to improve transparency and traceability in government spending through digital technology.
With COMPASS now backed by an executive order, the government is establishing a formal framework for making budget and spending information more accessible while requiring covered agencies to keep relevant data updated and available for public monitoring.
