Several solons called out the statements made by Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste, the latest of which is his claim that congressmen received a P2-million “Christmas bonus” for approving the 2026 national budget.
“First and foremost, there is a clear pattern of lies, falsities, and inaccuracies coming from Congressman Leviste, and this is yet another example of that,” Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said in Filipino during a radio interview yesterday.
The amount was supposedly distributed during the last week of December, after the ratification of the bicameral conference committee report.
However, Ridon emphasized that the funds in question are part of the House of Representatives’ budget for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).
“It is not true that there is a P2 million Christmas bonus. Funds were provided for congressional offices to support their activities and programs. These funds are part of the extraordinary miscellaneous expenses allocated to the offices and do not end up in the wallets of lawmakers,” he told DZMM.
Ridon also said House members received only the 13th and 14th month pay, like other government employees.
Likewise, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong called Leviste “unfair and disingenuous” for accusing his colleagues of receiving the P2 million bonus when, in fact, they were clearly intended MOOE or disbursements used for the operational expenses of the representatives’ district office.
“You can see the checks he presented. The mere fact that these were all issued under his name proves that they are well-recorded, audited, and within legal bounds… There is misrepresentation. The checks he provided to the media were actually for his district’s operational expenses and his salary,” he pointed out.
Adiong said the Leviste apparently wants to paint himself in a positive light at the expense of other House members.
“To impress upon the public that we are rotten? That the House is rotten and he’s the only one [clean]. If he doesn’t want to run his district office [with MOOEs] because I believe he’s a billionaire who does not need that kind of money, so be it. But to project that the House and all the members are rotten because we received MOOE, it’s not only unfair, it’s disingenuous,” the Mindanao solon stressed.
Similarly, Palawan 2nd district Rep. Jose Alvarez, a member of the House contingent in the bicameral conference committee, denied there was a misuse of funds and that the checks issued to lawmakers represented standard and lawful disbursements.
“There is nothing irregular about the checks issued to Rep. Leviste. They aren’t Christmas bonuses as he [Leviste] alleges,” he said.
“These are lawful, audited, and well-documented disbursements that every member of the House receives to cover the salaries of legislators and to ensure their district offices can function properly and deliver services on the ground,” Alvarez explained.
Earlier, Leviste said he was asked by fellow lawmakers not to publicly disclose the P2 million “Christmas bonus” given to them.
“When I saw the checks, I took a picture of them, which I have. And then they started panicking and calling people to tell, to call me, please, not to share it with the public. And I’m just saying this to explain that there is so much secrecy about these allowances,” he told One News on December 30.
Meanwhile, Ridon reiterated his intention to lodge an ethics complaint against his colleague, but said he would probably focus on the unlawful acquisition of documents belonging to the late Public Works Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.
In a previous interview, the party-list solon stated that while the contents of the so-called “Cabral files” raise serious concerns related to corruption in the government’s flood-control program, the House must also investigate how the documents were obtained.
