Batangas 1st. District Rep. Leandro Leviste said former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral had more influence over the agency’s budget than the House Speaker.
During his guesting on Daily Tribune’s “Straight Talks,” aired the day before Cabral was reportedly found dead, Leviste was asked about her role in alleged anomalies in DPWH infrastructure projects.
“She actually has more influence on the DPWH budget than the speaker of the House,” Leviste said.
Leviste noted that Cabral served as Undersecretary for Planning, giving her responsibility for preparing the DPWH budget. He added that she “invented” the system for allocables—the amounts each congressional district receives annually, with additional funds provided on top.
In a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report, allocables were defined as funds the DPWH provides to congressional districts. Leviste said the system was designed to segment allocations “for the congressman and for the leadership of insertion.” PCIJ described allocables as a new form of pork barrel due to their discretionary and politically motivated nature.
Leviste also discussed non-allocable project anomalies. He said some small districts received larger budgets than bigger districts, and budgets could grow further depending on contractors and non-allocable funds.
“It’s not based on population because there are small districts with bigger budgets than big districts with smaller budgets,” he said. “If a district has a lot of contractors, they have bigger budgets; on the non-allocable, it increases even further.”
He cited his own district, which received the largest DPWH budget in Region IV-A in 2025, amounting to P1 billion for slope protection in a sparsely populated barangay on private property.
Leviste said the system allowed DPWH to prioritize lucrative projects over necessary ones, noting recent anomalies in flood-control projects, rock netting, and slope protection.
“DPWH is looking for the most lucrative projects, rather than most needed projects. That’s why this P1 billion slope protection project is maybe four to five times overpriced,” he said. “And that is a very efficient way to collect kickbacks, rather than having many small projects.”
Following Cabral’s death, agencies investigating flood-control projects, including the Office of the Ombudsman and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, cited her as a key figure in understanding alleged anomalies due to her knowledge of the individuals involved.