Manila, Oct. 27 -- Artificial intelligence (AI) and citizen-developed digital tools are helping the Senate scrutinize the proposed PHP7.2-trillion national budget faster, with an online tracker now allowing Filipinos to examine congressional project insertions and funding changes.

During the Senate Committee on Finance hearing on Monday, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said civil society organizations (CSOs) produced an analysis of the House-approved 2027 budget within a day using AI and computer coding.

He noted that similar assessments previously took one to two weeks, giving senators less time to examine questionable allocations before deliberations.

"Dahil gumamit kayo ng technology, gumamit kayo ng artificial intelligence, gum...