Four PillarsFour PillarsAsia Digital Asset Policy Center

Advisory Network

Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV

Senator; Chair, Senate Committee on Science and Technology

PhilippinesLawmaker

About

Paolo Benigno 'Bam' Aquino IV, born in 1977, is a Filipino senator from the Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KANP). He graduated summa cum laude in management engineering from Ateneo de Manila University in 1999 and later attended an executive education programme at Harvard Kennedy School. He chaired the National Youth Commission from 2003 and co-founded MicroVentures, a social enterprise that ran the Hapinoy programme for women micro-entrepreneurs.

He first served in the Senate from 2013 to 2019, when he chaired the science and technology committee and authored laws including the Philippine Competition Act, the free tertiary education law and the Innovative Startup Act. He returned to the Senate in 2025, placing second in the May election. In June 2026 the Senate named him chair of its committees on science and technology, basic education and trade.

In September 2025 he filed Senate Bill 1330 to put the national budget on a blockchain. After an October 2025 hearing he agreed to redraft it in technology-neutral terms. The revised CADENA Act (Senate Bill 1506) requires agencies to publish budget documents, contracts and procurement records on a tamper-resistant digital platform, and the Senate passed it 17-0 in December 2025. Fintech lawyers at the October 2025 hearing noted that it could give the Philippines its first legal definition of blockchain. The House version was still pending in 2026.

Policy engagement

Principal author of the bill to put the national budget on a blockchain, redrafted as the CADENA Act (Senate Bill 1506) and passed by the Senate 17-0 in December 2025; it now awaits the House.

Source: BitPinas, Oct 2025

Key actions

  1. Questioned why the CADENA blockchain budget bill had fallen from third to 41st on the LEDAC priority list while it awaited House action.

    Source

  2. The Senate passed his CADENA Act (Senate Bill 1506) on third reading by 17 votes to none, and he urged the House to act on its counterpart bill.

    Source

  3. At a Science and Technology Committee hearing he accepted advice to make the blockchain budget bill technology-neutral and sent it to a technical working group.

    Source

  4. Filed Senate Bill 1330, the Philippine National Budget Blockchain Act, to record the national budget on a blockchain.

    Source

Also in Philippines