Leviste calls co-lawmaker Gardiola ‘biggest contractor’ in Congress

Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Leviste has raised concerns about fellow Congressman Edwin Gardiola, calling him the “biggest contractor” currently in the House of Representatives.

During a Straight Talk episode of DAILY TRIBUNE on Wednesday, Leviste said Gardiola’s role as a contractor is particularly significant amid scrutiny of infrastructure projects.

“I think Congressman Gardiola is significant because he is the biggest contractor today in Congress,” Rep. Leviste said.

According to Leviste, Gardiola, a representative of the Construction Worker Solidarity (CWS) Partylist and a fellow Batangueño, does not hide the fact that he is a contractor despite being a public servant.

“So he doesn’t hide the fact that he is a contractor and he represents construction workers, and there are many companies connected to him on paper,” Leviste stated.

Leviste said that two of the allegedly connected companies had six contracts in his district in Batangas—four in Tuy and two in Calatagan—amounting to around P794 million.

“And he approached me to ask for help for some of them because the local government wanted them to be concrete and he wanted it to be asphalt over the cement-treated base. Meaning, you just put a layer of asphalt on top of the dirt road, more or less,” Leviste claimed.

He added that local engineers deemed the project inappropriate for a flood-prone area and believes it was being pushed for “lucrative reasons.”

“I think the reason a contractor would want to just put the asphalt is that it's the more lucrative part of the project than having to put a concrete foundation to the road,” Leviste explained.

Leviste said the project in Tuy, Batangas, was reported to him by the district engineering office and is being funded by CWS Partylist, with the contractor executing it on behalf of Congressman Gardiola.

He added that his suspicions grew when he requested funding but was told there was no budget available. However, Gardiola told him that extra funds could be allocated to his district if he was the contractor.

“I actually spoke with Congressman Gardiola, who told me that he can give extra budget to my district as long as he is the contractor,” Rep. Leviste claimed.

Leviste said that, through the DPWH Central Office files, he found that projects amounting to approximately P20 billion were awarded to companies linked to Gardiola.

“I found that there were 22 billion pesos of projects that were tagged in a certain way that a year later all ended up being awarded to companies linked to Congressman Gardiola, which is why I said that it appears that there were 22 billion pesos of pre-ordered contracts for his companies in the 2025 budget,” Leviste explained.

He added that the projects were already “kargado” in the DPWH system and included in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) when they were released.

“They were, they say in the DPWH world, kargado sa NEP,” Leviste claimed.

The lawmaker said he is glad some alleged DPWH officials linked to contractors were removed, but noted the cases represent only “low-hanging fruit,” and a deeper probe could uncover more individuals seeking a share of the funds.

“I'm thankful that these individuals, undersecretary, assistant secretary, and director four, who are linked to or are contractors, were removed. That's a slight reduction then, in the influence of contractors in DPWH,” he said.

“But this is actually a more systemic issue that goes down to the regional and the district offices. I think congressmen will even say that it's not just congressmen who are contractors. It's the district engineers themselves who say, ‘Why should we, the contractors, make all the money? Why not set up our own companies?’” Leviste added.