Who is Leandro Leviste?

Batangas First District Representative Leandro Leviste recently hogged the headlines when he asked authorities to arrest a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineer who supposedly tried to bribe him in exchange for securing infrastructure projects in his district.

But Leviste is not exactly from unknown origins before that incident. He is the son of veteran Senator Loren Legarda and former Batangas governor Antonio Leviste, and has billions of assets to his name.

Leviste, in an interview with award-winning Jessica Soho’s podcast, said he dropped out of Yale University to focus on his business, Solar Philippines, at 20 years old.

He made the answer after he was asked about online chatter that he was a mere Yale dropout.

“That is not true kasi ako po ay nag-aaral sa US habang ako 'yung nagnegosyo. At dahil may mga opportunities ako sa aking negosyo noon pa, then naisip ko na kung hindi ko kunin ang mga opportunity na ‘yun at that time, mawawala ang opportunity. And I think that in the end it was worth it to miss it. The records will show that I chose to enter business at the age of 20 in 2013,” Leviste said.

(It is not true because I was studying in the US while doing business. I had business opportunities then and thought I might miss them if I passed on it.)

“Life is all about choices, no? And another big choice I made last year was to focus on this [job as a legislator] instead of my private business. But sa akin po, kung saan nararamdaman ko na may opportunity, doon po ako nakifocus. At sa ngayon naman, mag-e-enjoy ako kasi nakita ko na I didn't expect, for six months ko lang as congressman and I stumbled upon this opportunity to investigate the DPWH projects and find out data like this,” he added.

(I feel that where there is an opportunity, I would focus on that. And I enjoy what I do.)

Leviste was referring to his release of the supposed files of the late DPWH Undersecretary Catalina Cabral on the proposed projects of some House members, which he viewed were questionable.

In the same interview, the lawmaker said that the operations and personnel budget of his office as a Batangas representative was from his personal funds, making him financially independent and able to criticize the so-called insertions made by lawmakers without fear.

“Ayokong makibahagi sa sistema na kini-criticize ko. And maybe because of this, wala din akong complicity…that I cannot criticize the system. It allows me to be more independent as I don't receive anything from Congress, financially,” Leviste said.

(I don’t want to take part in a system I criticize. As such, I am not complicit.)

Leviste also called on his colleagues at the House to be transparent in their spending of the budget, including maintenance and other operating expenses. But is Leviste beyond reproach and transparent himself?

On Tuesday, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said that Solar Philippines was fined P24 billion after the termination of over 11,000 megawatts worth of contracts in the past two years for failure to deliver on its production commitments of nearly 12 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity. 

Ahead of Garin’s announcement, Leviste was also asked by GMA Public Affairs’ Soho on his Solar Philippines venture, and he vehemently denied that he was to blame for non-deliveries. He also clarified that Solar Philippines is not the same company that he sold to Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGEN).

Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGEN) already said in a statement that what it did was not buy Solar Philippines but also invest in a Leviste-founded firm SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC).

“Wala ‘yung (Solar Philippines) kinalaman sa binenta ko sa Meralco. Ang kumpanyang binenta ko ay publicly listed kaya pwedeng tignan lahat ng records noon. Wala pong kinalaman sa kumpanya na nakakuha ng prangkisa (Solar Philippines),” Leviste said.

(Solar Philippines is not related to the one I sold to Meralco. The company I sold to them is publicly listed, and I am not involved with the company that got the franchise to operate [which is Solar Philippines]).

Leviste, however, said that Solar Philippines had already ceased operations because of untenable conditions.

“Iyong kumpanyang ‘yun ay nag-stop na rin ng operations noon pa kasi nakita natin na napakahirap na bumangga sa mga vested interests sa power industry. At ang layunin naman po ng kumpanyang yun ay philanthropic or social impact na magbigay ng serbisyo sa mga lugar na underserved. Pero, natutunan po na muli, pag may mga malalaking problema, may dahilan kaya hindi ito naire-resolba,” Leviste said.

(Solar Philippines already stopped operations because it is hard to go against vested interests in the power industry. And the company’s goal is philanthropy, having a social impact in underserved areas. But I learned that if there is a huge problem, there is a reason why it cannot be resolved.)

“Kaya, pagkatapos po noon, naranasan natin yung malaking challenges sa serving ng mga underserved areas kaya nag-focus na lang po ako sa solar farm development po sa Nueva Ecija na ‘yun po ang binili ng Meralco,” Leviste added.

(After that, we experienced big challenges in serving underserved areas, so I just focused on solar farm development in Nueva Ecija, which was bought by Meralco.) —LDF, GMA Integrated News