Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste risks facing an ethics complaint for allegedly storming the office of the late Department of Public Works and Highways undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral to “illegally” obtain the files detailing the allocable and insertions of lawmakers in recent budgets, Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon warned Tuesday.

“When the acquisition of the evidence itself is under question, institutions cannot afford to look the other way,” said the minority lawmaker, chair of the House public accounts committee. “Congress has a responsibility to protect the integrity of its processes, the rule of law, and public trust.”

Recall that Leviste has made headlines for releasing a series of explosive documents pertaining to national budgets, claiming that members of Congress—including Ridon’s partylist—had millions if not billions of “insertions” in the DPWH allocation under the General Appropriations Act, spanning 2023 to 2026.

Leviste reportedly obtained the files in question in early September, but he only released them three months later, or nearly a week after Cabral fell to her death into a 30-meter ravine along Kennon Road in Tuba, Benguet, on 19 December.

Leviste’s admission of possessing the so-called “Cabral files” has further triggered concerns after DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon denied giving the lawmaker his imprimatur to obtain the documents.

It further drew skepticism after an unnamed staff member of Cabral told GMA News that Leviste forcibly took the files from her boss, resulting in a paper cut on the latter's hand, though the lawmaker had denied the allegations.

CCTV footage obtained by GMA News also showed that Leviste and Cabral were seen together walking down a hallway on 4 September after leaving the programming office. It was also seen that Leviste was carrying a pile of papers, while Cabral appeared to be briefing him. 

Nonetheless, Ridon said the acquisition of government records in an “unlawful” manner, or without official authority, merits scrutiny by the ethics committee, suggesting it is a conduct unbecoming of a legislator.

“We cannot allow the House to become a venue where evidence is sourced through questionable means and then laundered into legitimacy through publicity,” he asserted.

“What is unraveling today is not the acquisition of the Cabral files based on official authority, but the acquisition of documents based on an unlawful taking by Rep. Leviste.”

Furthermore, Ridon added that when official documents are allegedly obtained through unlawful channels and reproduced informally, their reliability as evidence is compromised, particularly when questions persist about the chain of custody, completeness, and authenticity.

This, he claimed, creates the risk that matters of public consequence are driven by selective leaks and unverified copies rather than accountable, verifiable records.

In an article published by GMA News on Friday, Dizon accused the Leviste of forcefully taking the files from Cabral’s office and even using the computer of a particular staff member. 

“Usec. Cabral told me all of this when it happened,” stated the report, quoting Dizon. “[He] forced to save the files…into his flash drive from a staff member’s computer. That’s what happened in September.”

Leviste, on the other hand, argued that he obtained the files with Dizon’s permission, and uploaded the email exchange between them to his Facebook page as proof.