A first-term congressman from Batangas has taken the unusual step of formally asking the House of Representatives to channel ₱12 million in office operating funds — money he has refused to collect since the start of the current Congress — directly to Filipinos affected by earthquakes, typhoons, and other calamities.
Batangas First District Representative Leandro Legarda Leviste made the request in a letter dated June 10, 2026, addressed to Maria Nenita M. Casem, technical staff chief of the House Committee on Accounts. In the letter, Leviste asked that the accumulated Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) "due for my office since the start of the 20th Congress" — amounting to approximately ₱12 million — be reallocated for disaster relief instead of being disbursed to his office.
According to Leviste, cheques worth close to ₱1 million per month have been issued to his office since July 2025, none of which he has claimed. He also asked the Committee on Accounts to clarify whether his office was entitled to additional MOOE from the House's total allocation, saying that any such funds should likewise be redirected toward calamity victims.
Lawmaker Pushes House to Act Collectively, Not Just Through Individual Members
Leviste's letter went beyond his own personal MOOE. He called on the House as a whole to dedicate a meaningful portion of its total operating budget to disaster relief — an institutional commitment, not merely a voluntary gesture from individual legislators acting on their own.
"I also respectfully propose that the House allocate a more substantial portion of its MOOE budget for disaster victims, beyond the contributions of individual members," Leviste wrote in the June 10 letter. He added that he was open to any mechanism the Committee on Accounts might propose, so long as it maximized the amount of funding reaching disaster-stricken Filipinos.
In a Facebook post explaining his visit to the House that day, Leviste said he had gone to press the committee directly on how the chamber's ₱18.58-billion MOOE allocation for 2026 was being spent. He estimated this works out to roughly ₱58.42 million per lawmaker — a figure that he argued should, in large part, be going to relief goods and rehabilitation assistance for communities devastated by recent calamities.
Leviste Takes Aim at Receipt-Free Spending Process
Central to Leviste's ongoing campaign is what he has described as "liquidation by certification" — a disbursement mechanism that, he argues, does not require official receipts and therefore makes it difficult to verify how public funds are actually spent.
The lawmaker said no one had been able to give him a satisfactory explanation of where the bulk of the MOOE money goes. He alleged that a large share is distributed to legislators to spend through this certification process, and that some colleagues have characterized these disbursements informally as a kind of "bonus" for House members.
"My apologies to my colleagues, but I cannot bear not to question where receipt-less funds go, especially now that we see how many of our countrymen are in need," Leviste said in Filipino in his public statement.
While Leviste acknowledged that some colleagues told him they use their MOOE to provide assistance in their respective districts, he questioned how that could be substantiated without documentary evidence. "But if there are no receipts, how can we be sure this money really reaches the public?" he asked in his statement.
His concrete proposal was to redirect what he characterized as these "bonuses" — for both House members and senators — to calamity victims, starting with ₱2 billion in June 2026 alone.
Senior House Members Reject the 'Bonus' Label
House colleagues have consistently and firmly pushed back against Leviste's characterization of MOOE disbursements as "bonuses." The resistance traces back to late 2025, when Leviste posted photographs of cheques issued to his office and publicly labeled similar disbursements a ₱2-million "Christmas bonus," triggering sharp criticism from senior members.
Palawan Representative Jose Alvarez, a senior member of the House appropriations panel, said at the time that the cheques were standard, lawful disbursements for district office operations and rejected any suggestion of irregularity. Lanao del Sur Representative Ziaur-Rahman Adiong called the "Christmas bonus" label unfair and misleading, stressing that the funds were routine MOOE meant for office operations — not extra compensation for lawmakers.
Bicol Saro party-list Representative Terry Ridon, for his part, clarified that the only December financial benefits lawmakers receive are the standard 13th-month pay and mid-year pay provided to all government employees under existing law.
As of the date of this report, none of the House figures who had previously commented on the issue had issued new public statements specifically addressing Leviste's June 10 letter.
House Maintenance Budget Rose by Nearly ₱8 Billion
The June 10 letter is part of a sustained, months-long effort by Leviste to force transparency on a significant increase in the House's operating budget. According to Leviste, the House MOOE jumped from ₱10.75 billion to ₱18.58 billion — a rise of approximately ₱7.83 billion — and he said he had formally requested a detailed breakdown of that increase but had yet to receive any response from the committee.
Much of this expanded spending, Leviste has argued, flows through the certification-based liquidation process, which he contends creates conditions ripe for funds to be diverted or misused without detection.
The House Committee on Accounts had not issued any public response to the June 10 letter as of June 13, 2026, according to available information. Leviste's office did not indicate whether a private reply had been received.
Who Is Leandro Leviste?
Leandro Legarda Leviste, 33, is the son of Senator Loren Legarda and the founder of Solar Philippines, a domestic renewable energy company. He won the Batangas first district seat in the 2025 elections — reportedly with a record vote total — and has positioned himself as an outspoken internal critic of the House's budget management practices since taking his seat in the 20th Congress.
Leviste has said he declines both his congressional salary and his MOOE, citing objections to how the chamber handles public funds. He has relied heavily on social media, particularly Facebook, to publicize his positions — a strategy that has generated considerable public attention but also significant friction with his legislative colleagues.
His late-2025 social media posts displaying cheques issued to his office drew sharp rebukes from senior House members, yet he has continued to press the same accountability questions well into the first half of 2026.
Backdrop: Elevated Disaster Relief Needs Across the Philippines
Leviste's renewed appeal comes against a backdrop of heightened demand for government disaster assistance nationwide. The Philippines has been dealing with the aftermath of a powerful earthquake and multiple typhoons that struck in recent months, significantly increasing the need for government-funded relief, aid goods, and rehabilitation support for affected communities.
While Leviste's June 10 letter did not identify specific disaster events his proposed reallocation would prioritize, his Facebook statement expressed a clear desire to see funds directed to those "battered by recent disasters." He expressed hope that the House would act on the proposal collectively and at scale — not simply leave it to willing individual members to contribute on their own.
As of June 13, 2026, the House Committee on Accounts had still not issued a public response to the June 10 letter, and no House leadership figure had made a formal statement on the broader proposal to redirect a portion of the chamber's MOOE to disaster relief.
Originally reported by: Rappler