BATANGAS Rep. Leandro Leviste yesterday filed criminal charges against a district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the province’s first district for allegedly attempting to bribe him in exchange for stopping the neophyte lawmaker’s investigation into anomalies hounding infrastructure projects in his district.
The complaint against Abelardo Calalo for direct bribery, corruption of public official, violation of anti-graft and corrupt practices, and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials was filed before the Office of the Batangas Provincial Prosecutor
Leviste said Calalo, who was arrested on Friday last week, has the option to turn state witness.
“There are people who are much more guilty than these DPWH employees. And to achieve our goal of reducing corruption in the DPWH until it is stamped out, not only DPWH employees have to be held accountable, and I believe with the help of state witnesses, we can catch a bigger fish,” Leviste told reporters in mixed Filipino and English.
Leviste, a billionaire businessman before he joined politics, said he proposed to Calalo “when we crossed paths at the Office of State Prosecutor earlier, that he turn state witness and help us uncover corruption in the DPWH system.”
He said Calalo, who is overwhelmed with what happened to him, has yet to accept his offer “but I’m praying that he’ll reflect and perform an act of public service to the whole nation.”
Police arrested Cabalo, 51, last Friday in Taal town in the act of bribing Leviste. The alleged bribery was reported to the police by a staff member of Leviste. Recovered during the operation, the police said, was around P3.1 million in bribe money.
Leviste, a son of Sen. Loren Legarda and former Batangas governor Antonio Leviste, said the case “goes beyond a P3.1-million bribe, but rather up to over P300 million annually of SOPs (standard operating procedures) or kickbacks from DPWH projects reserved for a congressman of the first district of Batangas.”
The administration lawmaker said in his sworn statement that Calalo told him that contractors were willing to give him 5 to 10 percent of P3.6 billion in the district’s projects, an amount equivalent to P180 million to P360 million, as “support” for his educational programs.
Leviste said one contractor was prepared to withdraw an initial P15 million, while the P3.1 million presented by Calalo “represented 3 percent of a P104-million project, with receipts included in the cash provided.”
CONTRACTORS NAMED
Leviste said Calalo even discussed with him how projects have been awarded without genuine bidding in the first district where contractors are allegedly handpicked by the sitting congressman in exchange for kickbacks.
Leviste said Calalo also identified “major contractors and named those who supposedly influenced project bidding and implementation during the tenure of a previous first district representative.”
“If I had agreed, meetings with contractors would have taken place this week, potentially generating hundreds of millions of pesos in kickbacks from 2025 projects. Over three years, the total kickbacks reserved for a congressman of a first district of Batangas could exceed P1 billion,” he said.
Leviste added: “Because I will never accept kickbacks, I will insist that all projects in the first district of Batangas be implemented properly. We will continue auditing DPWH projects in the district, not just flood control projects, and ensure that any defective work is corrected without additional cost to the government.”
The House Infrastructure Committee, earlier called tri-committee, will include the bribery attempt in its investigation into anomalous flood control projects.
The joint panel is composed of the House Committees on Public Accounts, on Good Government and Public Accountability and on Public Works and Highways.
‘NOT AN INSERTION’
Rep. Terry Ridon (PL, Bicol Saro), chair of the public accounts panel, said the “ghost” flood control project in Bulacan that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited last August 20, was not an offshoot of an insertion made by lawmakers in the national budget but an item already in Malacañang’s National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2025, on which the national budget or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) was based.
The reinforced concrete river wall project in Purok 4, Barangay Piel, Baliuag, Bulacan was implemented by the DPWH in the province’s First Engineering District.
The project, worth P55.7 million, which Ridon said was paid in full last June 30, was awarded to contractor SYMS Construction Trading.
The tri-comm vowed to launch “a full, transparent, and impartial” investigation into alleged corruption in the government’s flood control program.
“Kapag buhay ng tao ang nakataya, bawal ang palusot. Bawal ang palakasan (When people’s lives are at stake, excuses are not allowed. No patronage system,” said deputy speaker Paolo Ortega of La Union. “Every peso we lose to corruption is a life left at risk when floods hit. This investigation is not about politics; it’s about justice.”
