Rep. Leandro Leviste on Monday released on social media a set of documents known as the “Cabral Files,” which he said list 146 Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects worth about P20 billion included in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP). According to Leviste, the projects appear to be linked to Construction Workers Solidarity (CWS) Party-list Rep. Edwin Gardiola and companies allegedly associated with him.

Leviste said the documents, which he attributed to files left by the late DPWH undersecretary Cabral, were earlier shown to the Integrity Commission Initiative (ICI) in November and to the Office of the Ombudsman’s field investigation team later that month. He said the purpose was to flag what he described as the apparent advance identification or “pre-ordering” of projects in the 2025 DPWH budget.

Based on the files, the P20-billion worth of projects were tagged as “CENTI 20” under a “CENTI 2025” list dated August 30, 2024. Leviste said many of these projects later appeared in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and were issued Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), suggesting that they were funded and implemented, not merely proposed.

Leviste further claimed that nearly half of the projects were awarded to companies owned by members of Gardiola’s family, including Newington Builders and S-Ang Construction, while the rest went to firms allegedly linked to him, such as Readycon Trading and CT Leoncio. He said this raised questions on how the projects were awarded and called on the DPWH to explain the process.

The projects cited in the documents are located across Metro Manila, Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Vizcaya, Mindoro, Palawan, Negros Oriental, and Bohol. Leviste noted that four road projects in Tuy, Batangas, which fall within his district, were awarded to Readycon Trading. He said this does not automatically implicate district representatives, pointing instead to the role of DPWH district engineers and regional directors in the bidding process.

Citing compiled records, Leviste said DPWH projects linked to companies associated with Gardiola may exceed P100 billion over several years, including more than P70 billion in projects awarded to firms owned by his family from 2016 to 2025. Additional projects worth over P30 billion were allegedly awarded to other companies linked to him between 2023 and 2025.

Leviste argued that the controversy points to deeper structural problems in the DPWH, particularly in budget allocation and bidding, rather than isolated issues involving specific projects. He said the release of the documents was intended to aid ongoing investigations and allow the public to scrutinize the records.

The Office of the Ombudsman, through Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano, has earlier described the Cabral Files as a valuable source of leads in identifying project proponents. Leviste urged the public to help authorities by providing information relevant to the probe, as investigations into the alleged anomalies continue.