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Janvic Mateo - The Philippine Star
January 3, 2026 | 1:00am
MANILA, Philippines — “Christmas bonus?”
It’s nothing new, said Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, as he disclosed yesterday that members of the House of Representatives receive millions as “allowance” every time Congress goes on break.
“Ever since I became a congressman (in 2010), there is already this break bonus,” Tiangco said in Filipino in an interview with “Storycon” on One News. “The explanation for that is because you will spend most of your time in your district, you will have funds for expenses.”
These “break allowances” are received by lawmakers every time Congress goes on break – for Undas, Christmas and the Holy Week.
This is on top of the monthly allocation for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) received by each congressman.
“When did it start? I don’t know… There is the monthly MOOE, there is the break allowance… ever since I started in 2010,” Tiangco revealed.
To receive the break allowance, the Navotas congressman said lawmakers sign a voucher for the checks, with no specific requirements for liquidation.
Tiangco said he has not yet received his allowance for the Christmas break, but confirmed receiving P1.5 million for the Undas or All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day break.
Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste earlier questioned the release of the P2-million “Christmas bonus” for lawmakers.
Some congressmen said the funds are not bonuses for lawmakers, but are allocations for various expenses in their respective districts.
Tiangco urged the House leadership to be transparent with these allocations.
“My call to the House is, let’s be transparent about it… I don’t know why we can’t be transparent about this,” he said.
Heidi: Release list of expenses
In the same program, former Commission on Audit (COA) commissioner Heidi Mendoza called for the release of the itemized list of expenses for each senator and representative.
Given that the Senate and House of Representatives are authorized to liquidate by certification up to a certain amount, she said releasing the list is important to monitor how funds are spent by lawmakers.
Mendoza said it has been years since the COA released this itemized list of expenses, despite being mandated to do so regularly.
“This is what we should be demanding from COA. COA should be releasing what we call a schedule of allowances and payments to legislators,” she said in Filipino.
“This is one of the things we should be closely monitoring. This is within COA’s mandate and they should be regularly publishing this report,” Mendoza said.
Leviste to ‘keep quiet for now’
Meanwhile, Leviste – who earlier said he believes that 318 congressmen each received a P2-million Christmas bonus from the P18.58-billion MOOE fund – said he will be taking a break starting today until the regular session of the House of Representatives resumes on Jan. 26.
When asked to comment on the statement of Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon that the P2 million that each congressman received was not a Christmas bonus, Leviste said he will keep quiet on the issue for now, as advised by his mother, Sen. Loren Legarda.
“I just want to say this, because my mother told me ‘Son, of all that you say, don’t discuss the MOOE because that is the most sensitive issue in the entire Congress,’” he told radio dzMM.
“Today, the first thing that I want to say is my thanks to Congressman Ridon and House deputy speaker Ronnie Puno for admitting that there was P2 million released to congressmen last week. Some have denied it. Some said they are not sure how much,” Leviste added.
