House budget jumps P10.5B

Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste on Saturday sounded the alarm over what he described as a quiet and unexplained P10.5-billion increase in Congress’ own internal budget, urging lawmakers to come clean on where the money is going before the 2026 national budget is ratified.

In a statement released on Saturday, Leviste said Congress raised its internal allocation from P17.20 billion to P27.70 billion — without a committee hearing, debate, or public explanation.

“I’m not only questioning the outcome, but the process,” Leviste said. “There was no committee hearing, this wasn’t in the committee report, and then it suddenly appeared in the substitute bill.”

He said he has formally asked the committee in charge for a detailed breakdown of the increase but has received no response, stressing that the public deserves to know how the entire P27.70 billion — especially the added P10.5 billion — will be spent.

Much of the increase came from Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), which jumped from P10.75 billion to P18.58 billion.

Leviste warned that a significant portion of MOOE is liquidated “by certification,” a system he said could open the door to abuse.

In a 318-member House, he noted that the expanded MOOE effectively translates to around P58.42 million per congressman each year, though he acknowledged that lawmakers have legitimate office and official expenses and that part of the budget covers Congress’ institutional operations.

Leviste added that lawmakers receive monthly MOOE allocations and bonuses typically released in October and December — coinciding with budget approval. He said allocations are uneven and treated confidentially even within Congress, adding that he personally refuses to accept both his salary and MOOE because of his objections to the process.

He also questioned how MOOE funds are used to pay consultants, claiming some House consultants told him they are paid in cash — sometimes handed over in envelopes, backpacks, or even suitcases.

“These are public funds,” Leviste said. “Why can’t we declare who these consultants are and what they actually do?”

Leviste further alleged that under the Congressional Assistance, Response and Education (CARE) program, each lawmaker is given slots for 10 to 100 consultants paid P15,000 a month, some of whom allegedly serve as “keyboard warriors.” He warned that taxpayers’ money could be funding online attacks against government critics.

He also claimed that a staff member of the House Committee on Appropriations once showed him a document listing P151 million worth of budget items, allegedly telling him, “Cong, this is your incentive,” just days before the House voted on the 2026 budget.

Against this backdrop, Leviste also issued a pointed challenge to Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon, demanding that he authenticate controversial budget-related files or admit ordering the release of alleged insertions in the DPWH’s 2025 budget.

The warning followed a GMA News report quoting Dizon as saying he could not authenticate documents he had never seen or possessed. The files — some of which Leviste has been posting on Facebook since 24 December — were allegedly sourced from the late DPWH undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral months before her death.

“If Secretary Vince will not admit that he gave me these files, I will be forced to name the people who spoke to me to stop the files from being released,” Leviste wrote in Filipino in a Facebook post early Saturday.

Leviste has insisted the documents were personally handed to him by Cabral.

Dizon, however, disputed this claim, telling GMA News that Leviste allegedly forced his way into Cabral’s office and copied the files from a staff member’s computer — an account Leviste has not acknowledged.

The controversy has drawn mixed reactions.

Liberal Party president Erin Tañada said Leviste’s claims raise serious questions about how the files were obtained and whether they are authentic, stressing the need for immediate verification to protect the integrity of ongoing investigations into flood control anomalies.

University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Encinas-Franco, meanwhile, questioned Leviste’s motives, suggesting the repeated public disclosures could be driven by political ambition.

“It doesn’t come across as genuine,” she said in an interview. “He risks overexposure — at some point, people may just tune him out.”

Leviste, however, maintained that he intends to eventually release the names of all proponents behind the disputed DPWH budget insertions — but only once the files’ authenticity is confirmed.

As Congress moves closer to ratifying the 2026 budget on December 29, Leviste said he will continue pressing his colleagues to disclose how public funds — and alleged incentives — are being distributed behind closed doors.