Let’s do the math—using the official 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) figures alone.
SENATE (24 senators)
• Budget per senator (2025): ₱580,423,917 per year
• Multiply by 24 senators
₱580,423,917 × 24 = ₱13,930,174,008
Almost ₱14 BILLION for the Senate in one year!
That’s roughly:
• ₱48.37 million per senator per month
• ₱1.61 million per senator per day
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (316 congressmen)
• Budget per congressman (2025): ₱106,535,443 per year
• Multiply by 316 congressmen
₱106,535,443 × 316 = ₱33,670,000,000
That’s ₱33.67 BILLION for the House in one year.
That’s roughly:
• ₱8.88 million per congressman per month
• ₱292,598 per congressman per day
TOTAL LEGISLATIVE COST IN 2025 (SENATE + HOUSE):
₱47.6 BILLION
And this is just the official institutional budgets.
WHAT’S NOT YET INCLUDED HERE
“Commissions” or kickbacks tied to allocable projects
Shares from unprogrammed appropriations
Patronage funds coursed through ayuda programs
– MAIFIP
– TUPAD
– AICS
– AKAP
– and similar schemes
These may not always come as direct cash—but they come as guaranteed votes.
THE UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTION
If assistant district engineer–underlings like Jaypee Mendoza and Brice Hernandez could amass hundreds of millions in kickbacks…
If a district engineer like Alcantara could earn even more…
How much went up the chain?
How much went to the Usecs? The Secretary?
How much went to the sponsoring congressmen and senators?
In a country where classrooms flood, hospitals lack beds, farmers drown in debt, and workers live paycheck to paycheck—
₱47.6 billion for legislators (before patronage and commissions) is not a small moral question.
It is a national one.
I have yet to see how much budget they allotted for themselves in the 2026 GAA.
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