Philippines Mayor Slammed Over $175K PC Purchase

In one of the most bizarre tech scandals out of the Philippines, a former mayor reportedly approved the purchase of a PC for a jaw-dropping 10 million pesos – roughly $175,000.

The catch? The machine itself is worth less than $1,000.

Photos of the build quickly made their way to Reddit and Facebook, sparking outrage and ridicule. The PC appears to be a modest setup with an Intel Alder Lake processor, an ASUS PRIME H610-R mATX motherboard, 16–32GB of G.Skill Ripjaws RAM, a 750W power supply, and – strangely – no dedicated GPU. The case even has an HDD strapped awkwardly to the front. In short, it looks like something you could pick up at a budget shop for a fraction of the price.

The current mayor hinted at possible corruption in the deal, and critics online were quick to point out that no legitimate workstation has ever cost this much – not even the legendary Silicon Graphics rigs of the 1990s. Instead, many believe this was never about ignorance but about skimming public funds. The idea that someone could pocket taxpayer money under the guise of buying office equipment has left residents fuming.

While some tried to frame the story as a simple scam targeting an uninformed official, most commentary suggests the opposite: that the real scam was against the citizens, with falsified receipts and inflated prices serving as the cover. Whether it was a shady reseller, an inside job, or just blatant corruption, the result is the same – taxpayers are left footing the bill for what should have been an ordinary budget PC.

This case highlights not just how easy it is to overprice tech for those who don’t know better, but also how government procurement processes often lack transparency. For everyday consumers, the lesson remains simple: research your parts, double-check the value, and never take a receipt at face value – because sometimes, the scammer is closer than you think.