Palace says 'Cabral files' questionable; Leviste maintains documents authentic

Malacanang cast doubt on the alleged leaked Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) documents, saying they have no "probative value," even as Batangas Representative Leandro Leviste stood pat that the documents are "authentic."

Leviste on Thursday released the new set of documents supposedly provided to him by the late Public Works Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral that detailed the summary of allocations of the DPWH per district, province, and region from 2023 to 2026.

"The alleged Cabral lists or the DPWH leaks are still questionable. There is no proof that they really come from DPWH," Palace Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a statement.

"Unless the documents come from DPWH, we could not give the alleged 'Cabral files' or any list from an unknown source any probative value. It is nothing but hearsay and can be treated as mere fabricated documents," she said.

She also added, "Nonetheless, nobody can even assert that such project pushed through."

Castro said the burden of proving that the files were authentic lies on Leviste.

“Why should this representation prove the alleged 'Cabral's files' he claims to possess? He has started bragging about them, so it is his responsibility to prove their authenticity. Why should he shift his responsibility to others? We are not even aware if what he is in possession of are mere altered or fabricated documents,” she said.

But Leviste said he got the documents from DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon himself.

“I would like to repeat that Undersecretary Claire Castro will make a fool of herself when Secretary Vince and many others confirm the authenticity of the files that I uploaded,” Leviste said in a Zoom press conference.

“I got the documents after Usec. Cabral had a phone call with [DPWH] Secretary Vince. And I talked with Secretary Vince about this being released to the public. And Sec. Vince said he agrees. I thought that Sec Vince was going to release this to the public in September and at the very least give it to the ICI and the Ombudsman,” he added.

The Batangas lawmaker also said he had shown the Cabral files to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure and the Office of the Ombudsman in November, or way ahead of Cabral’s sudden death last December 19.

“I showed the list to the ICI and the Ombudsman and they said it was the first time that they saw it but I showed it to them. So it should not be said why am I only doing this now after the death of Usec. Cabral because I showed this to the ICI and the Ombudsman in November. And only after that were there calls for it to be released and eventually they were released to the ICI and the Ombudsman or at least the Ombudsman,” he said.

Leviste also disputed the earlier denial of DPWH chief Dizon that lawmakers were not allowed to propose projects for funding under the National Expenditure Program or the President’s proposed national budget for 2026.

He cited a screenshot of a Viber group chat dated June 10 sent to him by the House appropriations committee, which read “Good afternoon, chiefs. Please be reminded of the submission of hard and soft projects for fiscal year 2026." 

Further, the same Viber message read, “P150 million infrastructure for district rep, P160 million infrastructure for party list rep, P30 million soft for district and party list rep."

“Aminin na natin ang widely documented fact na bawat congressman ay pwedeng mag-insert ng P150 million sa NEP. Ito po ay ibinibigay natin sa June, at kasama sa lumalabas na NEP sa July. Ako po mismo ay nagsubmit. Lumabas ang mga multi-purpose buildings na para sa mga eskwelahan sa aking distrito. At sa sarili kong distrito, meron rin mga projects na lumabas sa NEP na in-insert ng ibang mga partylist,” Leviste said.

GMA News Online is trying to get the side of House appropriations committee chairperson Mikaela Suansing on the matter. —LDF, GMA Integrated News