Leviste wants House to allocate P14B for disaster victims' food packs

MANILA, Philippines — Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste has filed a resolution seeking to have the House of Representatives allocate P14 billion from its 2026 budget to fund food packs for disaster victims or rice for every Filipino family.

In a statement, Leviste said the P14 billion will be taken from the House’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) or “bonuses” in its 2026 budget, which has a total allocation of P23.83 billion.

READ: Leviste admits increase in district allocation, says he’s proud of it

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According to Leviste, the P14 billion could fund 28 million food packs or sacks of rice—or one food pack or sack of rice for every Filipino family while still leaving Congress with P9.89 billion.

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Leviste also claimed that much of the MOOE is “liquidated by certification,” presenting checks that showed House members receive a basic MOOE of around P1 million per month for office and other operating expenses, with no receipts needed to support reimbursements.

The lawmaker said that for 318 members over 12 months, this would amount to P3.82 billion, with a large portion of the remaining budget allocated as so-called “bonuses.”

Citing his discussions with the House committee on accounts, Leviste said this means at least P10 billion of the P18.58 billion House MOOE budget goes to unidentified uses, estimating that a similar proportion could be saved from the MOOE of the Senate and the rest of Congress.

Leviste also cited an alleged lack of transparency and equity in the allocation of MOOE, noting that some members of Congress do not receive any “bonuses” or additional MOOE, which effectively means there is no need for other members to receive considerably more MOOE.

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He proposed that the House and Senate release a detailed breakdown of MOOE spending or the amounts received by individual members, and adopt a more equitable allocation of MOOE among members in proportion to their constituents.

“These could help formulate reforms for the 2026 and 2027 budget and justify MOOE budgets moving forward,” he said. /mcm

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