BATANGAS 1st District Representative Leandro Legarda Leviste said today in an interview that Congress increased its own internal budget from ₱17.20 billion to ₱27.70 billion, without explanation or debate.
Leviste hopes that Congress could provide details on how the additional ₱10.5 billion will be used before the 2026 budget is ratified on December 29.
Leviste said: “I’m not only questioning the outcome, but the process: Why was no explanation given for the need for this increase, and why is no one speaking up on this? There was no committee hearing, this was not in the committee report, and it just appeared in the substitute bill. I also asked the committee in charge for a detailed breakdown, and they did not respond. The public deserves to know how the whole ₱27.70 billion, and particularly the ₱10.50 billion increase, will be spent.”
The Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) increased from ₱10.75 billion to ₱18.58 billion, much of which is liquidated “by certification”, meaning the funds could be pocketed. In a 318-member body, Leviste pointed out this translates to ₱58.42 million per Congressman per year, although he acknowledges that Congressmen have expenses for their offices and official functions, and part of the MOOE budget also goes to the operating expenses of Congress itself.
Leviste said Congressmen receive a monthly MOOE budget, and bonuses such as in October and December, coinciding with the approval of the budget. Leviste said he is still researching the amount of MOOE received by members of Congress because allocations are unevenly distributed and treated confidentially even within Congress, and he himself accepts neither his salary nor his MOOE due to his reservations on the budget.
Apart from the expenses of Congressmen, Leviste believes the MOOE budget is also used to pay for consultants: “I’ve spoken to some House consultants who said they get paid in cash in a supot, another in a backpack, one joked others get paid in a maleta. Given these are public funds, why can’t we declare who all these consultants are and what they do?”
Leviste said the House has also given slots for 10 to 100 consultants per Congressman under the Congressional Assistance, Response and Education (CARE) program, who get paid ₱15,000 per month to be “keyboard warriors”. Leviste expressed concern that taxpayers’ money is being used to pay social media trolls to attack the government’s critics using the unexplained ₱18.58 billion House MOOE budget.
Leviste also revealed that a staff of the House Committee on Appropriations secretly showed him a piece of paper detailing ₱151 million of budget items and told him “Cong, this is your incentive” a week before the vote on the 2026 budget.
Leviste said he will call on his colleagues to disclose to the public what benefits they receive from the House MOOE budget and other “incentives” from the House Committee on Appropriations before Congress ratifies the 2026 budget.
