Ridon: Leviste may face ethics complaint over acquisition of Cabral files

House public accounts committee chairperson Terry Ridon said Tuesday Batangas 1st district Rep Leandro Leviste may face an ethics complaint over allegations that he illegally acquired files from former Public Works and Highways undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.

In a report by GMA Integrated News, several DPWH personnel said Cabral suffered paper cuts and bled after Leviste allegedly forcibly took documents from her hand, and without authority, used and copied files from a computer in a DPWH office.

"Nakakabahala po 'yung ulat noong mga DPWH personnel kung saan sinabi talaga nila roon na parang sapilitan 'yung pagkuha ng mga files mula sa DPWH office, sa office ni Undersecretary Cabral ni Congressman Leandro Leviste. So 'yun 'yung unang malaking usapin. So we'd like to get more information about that. So 'yon pong mga nagsalita na mga kawani, pwede 'yun imbitahan 'yan doon sa ethics complaint na pwedeng isampa laban kay Congressman Leviste," Ridon said in an online interview.

When asked who should file the ethics complaint, Ridon replied, "Puwede hong 'yung DPWH personnel 'yung mag-file po ng complaint na ito. Pwede rin po na, siyempre, 'yung mga kababayan po natin na talagang interesado sa usapin po na ito. At siyempre, pwede rin po magkaroon ng mga motu proprio proceedings ang House ethics committee to look into these particular details." 

Ridon said there is "real public interest," not just in the so-called Cabral files but also in the manner by which these were obtained.

"Mas mahalaga, 'yun pong paulit-ulit 'yung sinasabi na may authority to obtain the files. For the longest time, 'yan po 'yung binabanggit niya. Pero apparently, si Secretary (Vince) Dizon na po mismo 'yung nagsabi twice or thrice, flatly denying giving any authority to Congressman Leviste. So I think malaking usapin ho 'yun," he stated.

"Mahalaga rin po sa Kamara 'yung pamamaraan kung paano po nakuha ito pong mga files na ito. Kasi tingin ko hindi ho dapat ginagawa ng House member, kung totoo po 'yung sinabi ng DPWH, 'yung ganyan pong porma ng pagkuha po ng mga files at 'yung pagsasalita na merong otoridad na kumuha ng mga dokumento when in fact, wala naman pala," Ridon added.

The Bicol Saro party-list representative also stressed the importance of legally obtaining documents, especially when some of the pronouncements of Leviste had been questioned.

"Kasi pagka hindi maayos 'yung chain of custody, transfer po ng documents, katulad ng binabanggit po ng Ombudsman, 'yun pong reliability at kredibilidad po ng mga hawak po ni Congressman Leviste na files will obviously be put into question. And actually, even without talking about, you know, the manner by which the files were obtained, 'yung pong disclosures niya in the last couple of days had basically been put into the spotlight dahil marami ho talagang mga untruths doon sa mga sinasabi niya," Ridon explained.

"It had already been more than three months, and Ms. Cabral is already dead at this point. So ibig sabihin, how in the world can we actually be certain that whatever it is that Congressman Leviste is actually disclosing at this point are the same documents that had been transferred to him illegally, and lawfully transferred to him on September the 4th. Hindi na ho natin 'yun alam," he added.

Among the "untruths" Ridon cited were Leviste's allegations that the former had budget insertions in the 2025 national budget, as well as the alleged allocations of former members of the House of Representatives who had already passed away.

"For example, sa akin, may sinasabi siyang mga insertions that I had made pero, in fact, hindi ho talaga totoo dahil hindi pa ako congressman noon. And more importantly, may mga patay nang mga kongresista katulad ni former congressman (Edward) Hagedorn, former congresswoman (Marisol) Panotes na nandoon supposedly sa listahan niya pero mga patay na ho. So ibig sabihin, the question is, how can they actually make insertions?" the lawmaker asked.

"So kumbaga, the credibility of the document and the credibility of Congressman Leviste is basically at stake here. And katulad nga ng binabanggit ng Ombudsman na nga, pagka ganyan 'yung proseso, parang may problema sa talagang kredibilidad nito pong pagsasabi po ni Congressman Leviste," he added.

When asked about Leviste's allegation that the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) had flood control allocations, Ridon said he did not see any such provision in the 2026 budget, and that he did not know if Leviste was referring to the period when DPWH Sec Vince Dizon was head of the BCDA.

"Yon pong mga ganyang very vague statements, talagang we really have to take it with a grain of salt. Ibig sabihin, parang I guess by this time, dapat the public should really be suspicious on each and every statement that Congressman Leviste had been stating in the last couple of days," Ridon replied.

He said the authenticity of the so called Cabral files can be made even without Leviste's participation.

"We will get to the truth on all of these Cabral documents. But we don't need Congressman Leviste's part in it. Kasi the original files are there anyway," he stated.

The party-list representative also observed that Leviste has been using squid tactics.

Ridon was responding to a question from the media about Leviste's challenge to the DPWH to release CCTV footage of suitcases being delivered to the agency after it released CCTV footage of Leviste inside their building.

"Well, obviously, that has been a pattern of Congressman Leviste on every time he is confronted with truths and facts, no? Kadalasan, iniiwas niya. Basically, squid tactics 'yon, di ba? Kumbaga, you're confronted with something but you respond with something else. Hindi ba? That is a classic squid tactic moves ng isang tao," he said. 

Sought for comment, Leviste denied that he illegally obtained files from the DPWH and thanked them "for confirming the authenticity of the files that were given to me on September 4 with the approval of Sec Vince."

"The timing of the DPWH saying this now about an event months ago is suspect, and only raises questions on why DPWH doesn’t just release the list if there’s nothing to hide," added in a statement.

He also urged the DPWH and Congress "to focus on supporting the admin’s campaign to investigate alleged corruption in DPWH, including by the likes of Cong. Gardiola, whose family as I just posted also got a flood control sub-contract from Sec Vince’s COA-flagged P11.5B NCC project."

"I understand that many politicians and contractors under investigation may be upset that I am sharing evidence that can aid in ongoing investigations; and I ask that those investigating DPWH projects disclose their connections with people under investigation given our findings on their links to contractors," he further said.

Leviste also said that he would rather not waste airtime "on the points of someone who's not relevant to the topic between me and DPWH."

He reiterated that the files came from the office of Cabral, "so if there are dead (congressmen) on it then you can ask them as they made the file; and the media should ask Sec Vince to finally confirm the authenticity of the files and figures posted so the public can be informed on how many billions is the allocable DPWH budget per district." —AOL, GMA Integrated News