Readers are welcome to send in a list of goods and/or services that the P10 billion can buy.
Janet Lim-Napoles is accused of converting P10 billion in government funds into kickbacks over the past 10 years through bogus NGOs, and ghost projects and recipients.
Ten billion pesos is a mind-boggling amount. Its misuse has moved Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle to tears and appalled Commission on Audit Chair Grace Pulido-Tan.
In Tan’s words: “Kahindik-hindik (appalling).”
Tan, who announced on Friday the results of a COA special audit of pork barrel funds from 2007 to 2009, found total releases for legislators’ programs and projects amounting to P116 billion. On top of this, the COA uncovered excess appropriations amounting to P50 billion.
Tan said the fake NGOs racket was much bigger, wider and more appalling than Napoles’ P10-billion scam.
But just how much is P10 billion?
For example, Kristel Tejada, the 16-year-old University of the Philippines student who committed suicide in March because she could not pay her tuition worth less than P10,000 per semester. P10 billion can pay that amount a million times over.
Ten billion pesos can also cover the withholding tax paid by 3.8 million workers earning around P20,000 monthly and pay for the wages of close to a million minimum wage workers for a month.
For daily MRT riders, P10 billion can pay for 333.3 million round trips from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City.
The P10 billion can also buy:
Part 2: Imagine what P10B can buy: 25 fast combat patrol boats with missiles
If you have P10 billion, what will you do? And what will you buy?