Is the coercive power of the state now being turned on the son of Sen. Loren Legarda, Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste?

That question surfaced after Malacañang called for an investigation into how Leviste obtained documents alleging irregularities in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), shifting official focus from the allegations themselves to the messenger who made them public.

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said the transfer of the files must be probed amid claims that the documents were forcibly taken from a DPWH staff member and copied onto a flash drive.

DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon has declined to authenticate the documents, saying he has not seen the files and could not verify them against official DPWH records.

Leviste said the documents were left with him by former DPWH Undersecretary Catalina Cabral, who was found dead in Benguet on 18 December and declared dead the following day after suffering blunt force trauma from an alleged fall into a ravine.

Castro questioned how the files were accessed, what documents were transferred, and how they could be authenticated, noting that Leviste cited only a phone call as authorization.

While the Palace said the documents could still be used in court if proven authentic, critics argue that calling for an investigation into Leviste signals a strong-arm tactic that risks chilling whistleblowers and shifting scrutiny away from the claims themselves.