Leviste: My mother also listed in DPWH insertion files

Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste on Monday reiterated his claims of widespread budget insertions linked to the now-infamous flood control scandal, saying that all sitting senators at the time were listed in the files of the late former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Maria Catalina “Cathy” Cabral.

In a morning interview on DZRH, Leviste said the alleged list even included his mother, Senator Loren Legarda, although he stressed that the amount attributed to her was the smallest among the senators named.

“I can say [my mother’s name is there],” Leviste said in Filipino. “I asked her, and she said she didn’t know of anything listed there, and amongst the Senators, insertions under her name were the smallest.”

Leviste said Cabral’s files indicated that all senators at the time accounted for about P120 billion in budget insertions during the 2024 bicameral conference committee deliberations for the DPWH’s 2025 budget, averaging P5 billion to P6 billion per senator. He claimed that his mother’s alleged insertions amounted to around P1 billion.

“Whatever the average is, my mommy’s is lower than that,” he added.

Cabral’s death has fueled speculation, with the former DPWH official described as the alleged “middleman” for flood control budget insertions and the one who supposedly determined the allocable amounts for each district.

Leviste previously claimed on the Daily Tribune program Straight Talk that Cabral “has more influence on the DPWH budget than the speaker of the House,” an interview taped a day before her death.

On Sunday, Leviste said Cabral personally handed him files allegedly containing a nationwide list of proponents behind DPWH budget insertions. He said the documents “have wide-ranging consequences,” as they allegedly name not only members of Congress and the Senate, but also executive officials, including secretaries and undersecretaries outside the DPWH, as well as private individuals.

“Almost all congressmen and senators have allocations and their own lists of insertions under this budget allocation,” Leviste said, adding that such insertions have become a common practice.

Legarda was not among the initial senators publicly linked to the alleged flood control anomalies. Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva were earlier recommended for prosecution by then Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, while Senators Chiz Escudero and former senator Bong Revilla were also alleged to have received kickbacks in the supposed ghost flood control scheme.

Leviste said the insertions effectively function as compensation for politicians.

“These insertions end up functioning as compensation, because even if you’re not actually an expert in flood control, you’re still given the power to choose where funding for flood control projects will go,” he said.

“So it has almost become normal that if you’re a government employee, you have your own flood control insertion,” he added.

Leviste called for the immediate and responsible public release of Cabral’s files to ensure transparency.

“I think that if we are truly sincere about wanting comprehensive investigations into flood control projects, this needs to be made public. If it isn’t disclosed, the implication is that only certain people are being selectively investigated,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, the DPWH announced the immediate turnover of all digital devices, documents, records, and files belonging to Cabral in compliance with the subpoena duces tecum issued by the Office of the Ombudsman.