Leviste pushes back on DPWH’s ‘stonewalling’

Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste on Sunday pushed back against what has been described as “stonewalling” by Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon, as he continued to release documents linked to the agency’s budget distribution.

The congressman uploaded on his Facebook account a compilation of screenshots of supposed email exchanges between him and the DPWH, which he said contradict claims, including on made by Dizon, that the documents had not been seen or authenticated.

“I gave a few days for the DPWH to ‘authenticate’ the documents that I uploaded on Facebook — as a test to see if they will lie, hide something, or admit the truth, and to see if they really don’t want the files published,” Leviste said.

In an earlier TV interview, Dizon said he has not authenticated the documents in Leviste’s possession.

“For the record, I have not authenticated any document in the possession of Cong. [Leviste] because I have yet to see the documents he was talking about. So how can I authenticate them?” Dizon said.

“I hope we don’t stop him from revealing the truth. I have a Facebook post. I don’t understand why he still says he hasn’t seen anything, when the whole Philippines can already see it on my Facebook,” Leviste said in a television-radio interview.

Based on Leviste’s screenshots, he sent an email addressed to Dizon on 1 October, following up on his request for the DPWH budget per legislative district in the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP).

On 20 October, Leviste received an email purportedly from the DPWH Planning Service stating that, “as per instruction of Sec. Vince Dizon,” they were transmitting two summaries of DPWH allocations for fiscal year 2026 — one based on the revised NEP version and another based on the House General Appropriations Bill (HGAB) version.

A few hours after posting the screenshots, Leviste granted an interview on DZBB Super Radyo, where he said he does not understand why the DPWH has not publicized the files containing budget allocations per region.

“It’s not about my files. It’s about the fact that the DPWH has files. Why haven’t they responded to the public’s call to make all DPWH project data public?” Leviste said.

According to Leviste, what is irregular is why the identities of the proponents are not being publicized, as there was “technically” nothing wrong with the allocable funds, which were supposed to finance infrastructure projects in districts.

“It is not enough to say that if you have a P10 billion budget, it means there is corruption, but this could help the investigation of the Ombudsman and the ICI (Independent Commission for Infrastructure), especially if they learn who the proponents of ghost and substandard projects are,” Leviste said.

Based on Leviste’s posts, the list of projects per congressional district, which contains the “allocable” DPWH projects, totals P401.3 billion.

Leviste shared a lengthy list of projects per congressional district on his Facebook post, containing the “allocable,” or budget allocated to DPWH projects in certain districts, totaling P401.3 billion.

Through the “outside allocable,” from different proponents, including amendments or budget insertions from House and Senate lawmakers, the budget grew to P1.041 trillion.

“In terms of what is irregular here, in my view the irregularity is the fact that it is being hidden. Because if there is nothing wrong, why don’t we just proudly show that some proponents have P10 billion in funds?” Leviste said.

The lawmaker urged the DPWH to release its copy of the files and confirm the amount allocated per congressman. He also noted that he made multiple attempts to publicize the list through a privilege speech in the House of Representatives, but some lawmakers urged him not to proceed.

“They should confirm whether this is really the amount allocated to the congressmen. Many of my colleagues in Congress pleaded with me and stopped me from delivering a privilege speech on this matter,” Leviste said.

Leviste became emotional during the interview as he said the list included names of government officials close to his family, including friends of his mother, Sen. Loren Legarda, but that he still wanted to know where the DPWH budget since 2023 — amounting to around P3.5 trillion — had gone.

“Everyone on the list doesn’t want their names to be revealed, and some are friends of my mother, but I really want to know where the P3.5 trillion of DPWH funds were spent,” Leviste said.

“It’s also sad that instead of releasing it, it seems like they are even covering it up. So I hope that the DPWH and Sec. Dizon will release it instead of me,” he added.

According to Leviste, he has a copy of the files and can corroborate whether names are removed from the list.