Where will Congress’ padded budget go?

“To our pockets,” said Batangas Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste.

“It’s so easy for us to pocket. Hindi kailangan ipaliwanag, hindi kailangan ng resibo. No liquidation, only certification from each congressman of expenses for, say, communication, transportation, representation,” Leviste told Sapol-DWIZ Saturday.

The House of Reps padded its 2026 budget to P27 billion. It originally asked Malacañang for P17 billion in the National Expenditure Program. On third and final reading on Oct. 13, 2025 the plenary added P10 billion.

Bulk of the padding went to Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses. From P10.7 billion in the NEP, the House MOOE rose to P18.5 billion.

The P7.8-billion MOOE spike went to big-ticket items like travel, representation, communication, professional services (consultants), confidential, intelligence and extraordinary expenses.

If divided among 318 congressmen, each can pocket P58.17 million from the unliquidated P18.5-billion MOOE.

“That’s in addition to our legal salaries,” Leviste confided.

To find out for sure, Leviste inquired with the House committee on accounts how much his “share” is. The staff refused to answer, knowing that he forfeits his monthly salary and MOOE anyway.

But Leviste, a first-term congressman, got a hint a week before the Oct. 13 House plenary. A Congress staffer told him that bigwigs of the appropriations committee, of which he’s vice chairman, offered him P151-million “incentive” to not question the House padded budget.

“So that’s it, the MOOE padding is for ‘incentives’ to keep quiet,” Leviste said. He was barred from further questioning.

“Walang kumukwestyon, at dahil hindi dini-discuss, hindi naipapaliwanag sa publiko,” Leviste concluded.

Communication was padded by a billion pesos, from P398 million to P1.47 billion. Other Maintenance and Operating Expenses ballooned from P1.8 billion to P4.8 billion.

Easiest to pocket is the expense for consultants. Chatting up those who work for veteran colleagues, Leviste quoted them as saying their fees “come in cash – in backpacks although others get in suitcases.”

“Consultants include troll armies,” Leviste said. “Troll account managers even hold group seminars for congressmen and staff.”

Smaller MOOE increases were for training, supplies and materials, utilities, general services, repairs and maintenance, taxes, insurance premiums and other fees, advertising, printing and publication, transportation and delivery, rent, lease, membership dues, contributions to organizations, subscriptions, donations.

The absence of official receipts and invoices hinders the system. The BIR, AMLC, COA, Comelec and ombudsman are unable to trace irregular spending.

“I come from private business where such non-liquidation is a no-no,” Leviste said. The Senate also raised its 2026 budget by P1 billion.

In 2025 the House more than doubled its budget from P16.3 billion to P33.67 billion, a P17.37 billion padding. The Senate added P1.1 billion to its original P12.8 billion, making it P13.9 billion, also without public hearings.

Along with a higher public works appropriations than education and hundred billion-peso political ayuda, that election year budget was the crookedest in history.

The House has padded its budget by 75 percent from 2023 to 2026.

When Congress was newly restored under the 1987 Constitution, the Senate and House used to take up full page newspaper ads to report detailed expenses of members. The practice stopped in the 2000s, although technology now allows much cheaper publicizing on websites.

The House and Senate’s 2026 NEP figures were prepared as early as April 2025 under speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate president Chiz Escudero. Could it be that new Speaker Faustino Dy III and Senate President Tito Sotto, who both took office in August after the NEP was finalized, discovered new MOOE needs?

“I wouldn’t know about that,” Leviste said. “But since we have new leaders, we can have a new practice of transparency in spending people’s money.”

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