Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste showed everyone that he had deep pockets as well as deep convictions when he personally bankrolled the distribution of a P1,000 allowance each to an estimated 150,000 basic education students in his district.

Through his Lingkod Legarda Leviste Foundation, the 32-year-old congressman and billionaire entrepreneur personally led dole outs at several elementary and high schools in the towns of Nasugbu, Lian, Calatagan, Tuy, and Balayan on Friday, July 11.

The distribution served as a preview of sorts to the potential enactment of Legarda Leviste's House Bill (HB) No.27, or the proposed National Student Allowance Program (NSAP). The bill grants a P1,000 monthly allowance to all students in the entire country.

Since no solon would oppose a measure that directly benefits studenrs, Legarda Leviste is aware that budget availability will ultimately determine whether or not the NSAP becomes institutionalized.

For now, at least, he has the students in his own district covered.

"I think some people are in disbelief because maybe in other provinces there's not yet been a public official who does that kind of thing when it's not election season," the spectacled young man said in a press conference.

"And here in Batangas the students are not surprised because we also gave school books over the past few weeks. Also our personal contribution and I think more than the budget that the government has been allocating to these kinds of programs in the first district has been my own personal investment," he said.

Leviste--the country’s youngest self-made billionaire--decided to focus on public service in 2024 after selling a controlling stake in his company Solar Philippines New Energy Corporation to Meralco for P34 billion.

"I am very fortunate to have had the career that I have had in business over the past decade and then decided to enter politics over the past year so that I could help the first district of Batangas and when arguing that something is a good use of taxpayer's money it is something that I believe is also a good use of one's own money," said the son of Senator Loren Legarda.

"So I am deliberately putting my money where my mouth is and all of the educational assistance that we are giving out now to every high school and elementary school student in the first district of Batangas is coming at zero cost to government," he said, driving home a key point.

Legarda Leviste cited the online comments expressing disbelief or doubt over his gesture. He gave a practical explanation to these netizens.

"If I just give some background that ako po ay 32 years old at siguro kahit na anong klaseng lifestyle ko hindi ko ko mga uubos ang kinita ko sa negosyo sa buong buhay ko at simple din naman po ako mabuhay," he said.

(I’m 32 years old, and I think that no matter what kind of lifestyle I live, I wouldn’t be able to spend everything I’ve earned from my business in my lifetime. I also live simply.)

The Batangueño added tongue-in-cheek: "Wala pa akong anak pero simula ngayong araw ako po ay nakapagpaaral na ng mahigit 150,000 na estudante (I don’t have kids yet, but starting today, I’ve helped send over 150,000 students to school)."

In one of his speeches Friday, he said that the daily fare expenses of a student in the first district can reach up to P200.

Legarda Leviste said that while the P1,000 allowance won't be enough to shoulder all of students' daily needs, it will still give them some relief.

Asked if he plans to sustain the P1,000 monthly allowance to the students in his district, the neophyte congressman said yes, although he also underscored the need to maximize this benefit for the learners.

“Spending on education is an investment in our country’s future, and doing so through allowances conditional on attendance ensures that funding directly and efficiebtly benefits the students. I hope that showing the benefits of this in Batangas will help justify this program for the whole country,” Legarda Leviste also said in a statement Friday.