Palace challenges Leviste to verify alleged DPWH budget insertions

Malacañang on Tuesday challenged Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste to substantiate his claims of alleged budget insertions in the proposed 2025 national budget by presenting verified facts and documents.

Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Leviste should coordinate directly with Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon to confirm the authenticity of the list of alleged proponents of infrastructure budget insertions for 2025, which reportedly includes several Cabinet secretaries.

Castro also cast doubt on the credibility of the so-called “Cabral files,” saying these could be “altered or fabricated documents.”

“Why should this representation prove the alleged ‘Cabral files’ he claims to possess?” Castro said in Filipino, referring to the documents Leviste said he obtained from the late DPWH undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.

She also addressed reports claiming that First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos was among those named in the leaked DPWH documents, stressing that the information remains unverified.

Castro further brushed aside Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson’s insinuations of a possible “cover-up,” describing allegations linking Cabinet members to budget insertions as mere “hearsay” with “no probative value.”

“With all due respect to Sen. Lacson, it is the alleged ‘Cabral files,’ which have yet to be authenticated by the DPWH, that remain hearsay and without probative value. At this point, we are only talking about the unverified ‘Leviste list,’” Castro said.

Earlier in the day, Leviste presented what he described as evidence during a press briefing with House media, claiming that members of Congress were given allocations beyond the P401.3-billion “allocable” budget for DPWH projects. He said the documents he cited originated from the office of the late Undersecretary Cabral.

Leviste also shared a message dated 10 June, sent during the preparation of the National Expenditure Program (NEP), which was allegedly circulated to congressional chiefs of staff.

The message reminded recipients to submit both “hard and soft” projects for fiscal year 2026, including allocations of “P150 million for infrastructure for district representatives,” “P160 million for infrastructure for party-list representatives,” and “P30 million for soft projects for both district and party-list representatives.”

According to Leviste, these submissions were already reflected in the NEP even before the official period for congressional amendments.