BBM’s litmus tests

Two things are seen as litmus tests of the sincerity and commitment of President Marcos to leave an anti-corruption legacy.

One is something that he can claim to be beyond his full control: the indictment of his relatives linked to large-scale corruption in the flood control scandal.

This is in the hands of the Office of the Ombudsman, an independent constitutional body, and later the judiciary, a co-equal branch of government. But the appointing power in the judiciary can give a nudge in the right direction. BBM must go for quality rather than quantity in this crackdown.

The other litmus test is the 2026 national budget, which BBM signs today, after a week of what Malacañang described as a review “with a fine-tooth comb” of the budget bill hammered out by the 20th Congress.

What the President signs could blunt any destructive impact of whatever bomb Luis “Chavit” Singson has promised to set off today against BBM.

Malacañang may dismiss Singson as a compromised accuser, since he faces a plunder complaint filed last October in connection with the purchase of a property in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur that was allegedly overpriced by P100 million when he was mayor of the town.

By announcing a “fine-tooth comb” review of the 2026 General Appropriations Bill, Malacañang has again raised public expectations – this time, that BBM will put his foot down on what budget watchdogs have described as P633 billion in “hard, soft and shadow pork” in the GAB.

The “hard” pork barrel is P180 billion worth of infrastructure projects that are “reshaped through political discretion rather than sound planning,” according to the People’s Budget Coalition and Roundtable for Inclusive Development. The coalition wants implementation of such projects opened to multisectoral citizen monitoring.

The “soft pork” items are the politician-mediated ayuda programs for every need. Cash dole-outs and other aid programs, the coalition said, must be rules-based, rights-based and depoliticized. By now you must be familiar with the controversial ayuda acronyms: MAIFIP, AICS, TUPAD, plus Tulong Dunong, etc.

Unprogrammed appropriations, which Congress refused to eliminate, are the “shadow pork,” according to the group.

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Lawmakers, many of them under fire for being part of the previous Congress that produced the most corrupt budget ever, must now also contend with a neophyte colleague who is denouncing their kalakaran and exposing how much taxpayers are spending for the pay, perks and upkeep of public officials who have institutionalized thievery.

Worse for the congressmen, a senior colleague, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, is confirming – with some points corrected or clarified – the issues raised by Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, including the P2 million given to each House member as “Christmas bonus.”

Tiangco told “Storycon” on One News last Friday that the “bonus” is actually given regularly, and not just during the Christmas holidays. Each time Congress goes on break, members get such additional funds, Tiangco said. In the private sector, we call it bonus. Tiangco calls it “break bonus” or “break allowance.”

So there was a bonus for the Undas break – the timing of which coincided with the House budget deliberations, and which Leviste might have therefore construed as funds linked to the budget approval.

There’s a bonus or allowance for the Holy Week/Easter break, and for Congress’ adjournment sine die in an election year. In 2025, this coincided with the eleventh-hour transmittal to the Senate by the House of the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Tiangco stressed that “break bonuses” are actually released regularly, and the House leadership can be transparent about it. He said this has been going on since he first joined Congress in 2010, when Noynoy Aquino was president.

So far, Tiangco said he had not yet received the P2 million “Christmas bonus” or break bonus coinciding with the Christmas break. But he told me that the only congressman who rejected the bonus is Leviste, who also said he returned a check for P1.5 million issued around the time of the budget deliberations.

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Only congressmen get millions as “bonus” when they go on break. Congressmen say they actually work during their breaks, and the “additional funds” (as described by Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno) are spent on their constituents.

To give me an idea of the amounts involved, Tiangco Vibered me a breakdown of his monthly pay as a neophyte congressman in July 2010: basic pay of P77,653 (net P52,779.80) plus “district allocations” totaling P288,666.67, for a net monthly pay of P341,446.47.

“District allocations” include staff salaries, contractual consultants, regular transportation, “consultative/visitation,” supplies, communications, representation, research, “district field” and public affairs fund. On top of these are the regular “break bonuses.”

The amounts have jumped exponentially since 2010.

Leviste, who had initially said he would shut up for now on the advice of his mother, doubled down on his kalakaran-busting, saying congressmen received about P4 million in salaries and MOOE or maintenance and other operating expenses last December.

For 2026, a congressman reportedly gets P342,310 as monthly salary and about P1 million in MOOE, apart from the break allowances and regular bonuses.

Former audit commissioner Heidi Mendoza told Storycon that these expenses need not be liquidated for state auditing, but merely certified by the lawmakers. She acknowledged the potential for abuse in the certification system, but also cited its practicality, especially with presumption of regularity in the fund utilization.

Unfortunately for Congress, thievery instead of regularity is now presumed in lawmakers’ utilization of public funds.

And when 67 of the 318 congressmen are tagged as “cong-tractors” while many of the rest are seen as opportunistic epals or credit grabbers cultivating political patronage, those millions in fat bonuses seem obscene. Especially when contrasted with the compensation received by ordinary government employees including health workers, teachers and scientific experts.

President Marcos now has a chance to curb the kalakaran in the utilization of the national budget. After overpromising on the big fish having a sad Christmas in jail, maybe he will surprise us with sweeping budget reforms.