QUEZON CITY — Batangas First District Representative Leandro Legarda Leviste filed a resolution on Sunday, June 15, 2026, urging Congress to redirect ₱14 billion from its Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) — funds he has repeatedly characterized as legislative "bonuses" — to finance food packs for disaster victims or a sack of rice for every Filipino family.
House Resolution No. 1118, filed during the 20th Congress' Second Regular Session, calls on both the House of Representatives and the Senate to realign the ₱14 billion within the existing 2026 budget, framing the measure as a redistribution of current legislative funds rather than the appropriation of new money.
One Sack of Rice for Every Filipino Family
At a press briefing held at the House of Representatives, Leviste said the combined MOOE of both chambers — amounting to roughly ₱24 billion — could be trimmed to approximately ₱10 billion, consistent with historical Congressional spending patterns. The remaining ₱14 billion, he argued, could be directed toward meaningful social aid.
By Leviste's estimate, the ₱14-billion reallocation could fund as many as 28 million family food packs or 28 million 10-kilogram sacks of rice — equivalent to approximately one for every Filipino family. The resolution pegs the cost of a single Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) family food pack, or a 10-kilogram sack of rice distributed under the Bawat Bayan Makikinabang program, at roughly ₱500 each.
Leviste presented sample cheques during the briefing to illustrate the scale of individual MOOE allocations currently received by House members.
Congressional MOOE Has Grown 228 Percent Since 2017
According to HR 1118, the 2026 General Appropriations Act provides MOOE allocations of ₱18.58 billion for the House of Representatives, ₱4.12 billion for the Senate, and ₱1.19 billion for the Commission on Appointments and the electoral tribunals — bringing the total Congressional MOOE to ₱23.89 billion.
The resolution notes this represents a 228.61-percent increase over the ₱7.27-billion MOOE recorded in the 2017 budget, reflecting a compounded annual growth rate of 14.13 percent over the nine-year period. Even after a ₱14-billion reduction, ₱9.89 billion in MOOE would remain available to Congress, the resolution states.
Based on consultations with the House Committee on Accounts, HR 1118 states that at least ₱10 billion of the House MOOE budget goes to what the resolution describes as "unidentified uses." Excluding ₱3.31 billion allocated for supplies, utilities, and maintenance, the resolution places the 2026 House MOOE at ₱15.27 billion — an average of ₱48 million per member.
Members Receive Up to ₱1 Million Monthly in Office Expenses
Leviste said House members receive a basic office MOOE averaging approximately ₱1 million per month — totaling ₱3.82 billion across 318 members over the course of a full year — intended to cover travel, communication, representation, and other office-related expenses.
He said some members also receive so-called "break bonuses" of ₱2 million per session break, in addition to MOOE that is "liquidated by certification," meaning no official receipts are required for disbursement. The resolution acknowledges that lawmakers have legitimate office and constituent-related expenses but argues that these need not be released through certification-liquidated cheques.
Allocating the funds "equitably and with transparency," the resolution argues, would make it harder to characterize the additional disbursements as "bonuses" and would improve public accountability over legislative spending.
Disaster Conditions and Rising Inflation Cited as Urgency Drivers
Leviste cited several factors as evidence of mounting need for emergency food assistance. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southern Mindanao on June 8, 2026 — just one week before the filing of the resolution — displacing thousands of families and straining government relief operations.
The resolution also cites the United Nations' World Risk Report, which ranks the Philippines as the world's most disaster-prone country, and notes that inflation reached 7.2 percent in April 2026 amid an ongoing oil crisis, significantly eroding household purchasing power for ordinary Filipino families.
The resolution further notes that House members had already made voluntary salary deductions to assist victims of the 2026 Mindanao earthquake, as well as those affected by typhoons Tino and Uwan and the 2025 Cebu earthquake — underscoring the sustained demand for legislative-backed disaster relief.
Resolution Calls for MOOE Audit and Public Hearings
Beyond the proposed ₱14-billion allocation, HR 1118 urges the House and Senate accounts committees to release a detailed public breakdown of MOOE spending and the amounts received by individual members. It also calls for the conduct of public hearings on the use of legislative funds and the adoption of a more equitable allocation system proportional to each member's number of constituents.
The findings from these hearings and audits, the resolution states, should directly inform reforms to both the 2026 and 2027 national budgets. The resolution also notes that the House already sets aside a portion of its budget for relief and social aid purposes.
Leviste Has Long Questioned Legislative Spending Practices
Leviste, a son of Senator Loren Legarda and former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste, has been among the most outspoken members of the House of Representatives on the issue of legislative spending. He had earlier questioned a ₱10.5-billion increase in Congress' internal budget and publicly alleged the existence of year-end "bonuses" tied to MOOE disbursements.
Several of his colleagues have disputed these characterizations, maintaining that the disbursements in question constitute lawful and audited expenditures within established legal parameters. HR 1118 represents Leviste's most detailed legislative effort to date to quantify and redirect what he describes as excess Congressional allocations.
As of the filing of the resolution on June 15, 2026, no formal response had been issued by House leadership or the Senate regarding the measure's prospects for committee deliberation or plenary action.
House Resolution 1118 Now Awaits Committee Action
HR 1118 has been filed and is expected to be referred to the relevant House committee for deliberation. The resolution does not by itself carry the force of law but calls on the appropriate legislative bodies to act on its recommendations within the framework of the current 2026 budget cycle.
Should the resolution gain traction, its proposed reforms would require coordinated action by both the House Committee on Accounts and the Senate's equivalent body, as well as the concurrence of House and Senate leadership on any budget realignment affecting both chambers' MOOE appropriations for fiscal year 2026.
Photo credit: Photo courtesy of the House of Representatives of the Philippines