Blockchain-Based Systems Would Be A Game-Changer in PH

Blockchain technology is shaping industries worldwide and as far as I know, the Philippines is not that far behind. Even the country's central bank (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) recognizes the benefits of the technology and officially launched the blockchain-based Project i2i in 2019 in collaboration with Union Bank of the Philippines. The project aims to link all rural banks in the country and provide them access to low-cost, real-time payment services.

_{[Note: i2i stands for island-to-island, institution-to-institution, and individual-to-individual]}

Today, i2i is the country's largest and fastest-growing Open Finance and banking-as-a-service network, connecting hundreds of financial institutions and community-based financial service providers spanning thousands of branches nationwide, including major remittance centers such as Cebuana Lhuillier, LBC, Palawan Express, and PeraHub across the country.¹

But while one of the biggest banks in the country is making use of blockchain technology to improve and facilitate better services to people, there are many other industries that I believe would benefit when utilizing the same approach. Let me share two of them below.

Blockchain-Based Automated Election System

Sometime last year, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) explored the idea of a blockchain-based automated election system in their 3-day session. Here's a proposed framework obtained from BitPinas:

It would be a game-changer if they would push through such a blockchain system and set it up to be used in future elections in the country. Although several challenges need to be addressed first (lack or poor internet facilities in remote areas, the need to educate the voting public, etc), a blockchain-based election system would benefit the nation a great deal in terms of improving security, transparency, and control of election frauds among other things.

It would make it difficult for those who have bad intentions to interfere and manipulate the polls because the results will be real-time.

In addition, costs will be reduced in the long run. Elections in the country are held every 3 years so when a blockchain-based system is set up, there will be massive savings for the agency (COMELEC). No more huge budgets are required for extra personnel to oversee every voting location and there will be no need for printing millions of paper ballots.

Blockchain-based Driver's License, National ID, Passport, and Storage System

One of the most time-consuming processes in the country is getting or renewing a driver's license and passport. While they have been improved these recent years, there's a need to have better systems to ensure more secure, decentralized processing, handling, and storage.

Another thing that is concerning to most people is the National ID system. Although the government has set up a platform where people can securely register, it is still taking a lot of time for the IDs to be issued. Also, we have reservations as to how secure the databases are or where the personal and private information of millions of people are stored.

We know for sure that sensitive, private data are synonymous with big money, hence they are prone to illegal access and hacking. Cloud databases aren't as safe as we would have thought.

In that regard, we could benefit from having a more secure, tamper-proof, decentralized solution through blockchain-based National ID, driver's license, passport, and storage systems. And we wouldn't be so wary of having our identities leaked to third parties who can use our information on other things.

Summing Up

While some other industries and sectors in the country could benefit from utilizing blockchain technology (like public fund procurement, the supply chain, the agricultural sector, etc), I think these two need the most immediate attention, especially because they involve the security of sensitive, private and personal data of the citizens.

Also, they are screaming for more efficient, systemized processing, and handling. Having better and decentralized systems would also reduce waiting time, and therefore improve people's experiences.

I do like the fact that the central bank is one of the very first in the country to recognize the use of blockchain in the banking sector and I do hope that the government and other industries will utilize it more, especially where the majority will benefit.