Leviste: More DPWH officials have links to contractors

Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Leviste said on Saturday that more officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have links to contractors.

Leviste issued the statement after DPWH Undersecretary Arrey Perez resigned after the lawmaker accused him of having connections to contractors. Perez lamented the "malicious insinuations" about him even as DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said he would still be investigated. 

“People have asked if it’s true that I denied that Usec. Perez has links with contractors—I did not. What I said was: There are more members of Secretary Dizon’s team linked to contractors, and one in particular was photographed with contractors in a recent meeting in a restaurant. This one photographed was another member of Secretary Dizon’s team,” Leviste said.

GMA News Online has sought comment from Dizon and will publish it as soon as it is available.

The neophyte lawmaker requested that Dizon disclose all of the connections and meetings that each DPWH official has with contractors, as well as "how we will ensure they do not get kickbacks."

Leviste also urged the release of the DPWH budget per legislative district, "as committed in the September 17 budget hearing, and the list of proponents, as requested by others and readily available" as well as "lower prices by 25%.”

He also clarified that he did not call for the resignation of any DPWH official amid allegations of corruption in infrastructure projects, particularly those involving flood control.

“I only named Usec. Perez after Secretary Dizon asked me to give an example. My press briefing was to follow up on Secretary Dizon to lower the prices of DPWH projects and release information on the data per district in the 2026 budget, and I hope that Secretary Dizon can address this, because it is in changing the budget and not just the team that we can show that we are doing all that we can to end kickbacks in DPWH,” Leviste said. 

"Given how many DPWH officials are connected with contractors, let us release the list of projects and remove all insertions by contractors in the DPWH budget," he added.

Dizon vowed on Thursday to immediately remove and even file charges against any DPWH officials proven to have contractor links. —with Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA Integrated News