Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Tuesday, Aug. 26 urged public officials and whistleblowers to stand firm against alleged anomalies in multi-billion-peso flood control projects, saying fear should not hinder efforts to uncover corruption.

“Protected from who? If we start being afraid from whatever consequences there are, then we will never uncover all these (sh*t) anomalies!” Sotto said when asked about possible intimidation and concerns for the safety of those exposing irregularities.

“We all have to be strong and fight for the truth, for the good of our country and our people,” he added.

The former Senate President issued the remarks after being asked about the courage of Batangas First District Rep. Leandro Leviste, who rejected an offer of more than P3 million from a Batangas district engineer and had the engineer arrested for allegedly attempting to dissuade him from probing alleged irregular flood control projects in the province.

Following the incident, Senator Loren Legarda expressed concern over her son's security.

Sotto stressed that fear of retaliation—including threats to life or possible legal cases—should not paralyze those seeking accountability.

“Walang mangyayari sa atin pag ganyan (It won’t get us anywhere if that’s the case). Fight dapat,” he said when told that some individuals might hesitate to speak out because they were either complicit—willingly or unwillingly, or fear repercussions.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson earlier revealed that some district engineers and contractors were among his sources for alleged ghost or anomalous flood control projects, raising questions about protection for informants.

He stated that the foiled bribe attempt may indicate DPWH district officials have become "legmen" and "bagmen" of powerful contractors and/or "funders," or the lawmakers responsible for insertions in the General Appropriations Act.

Lacson also said that the corruption in the DPWH may have become so systemic that a surgical solution—beyond kicking out or reassigning officials—may be needed.

"DPWH Batangas 1st District Engineer Abelardo Calalo is far from being a 'big fish.' His arrest after a foiled bribery try on Rep. Leviste reinforces my theory that some DPWH officials, at least at the district engineering level have already been relegated to being 'legmen' and worse, 'bagmen' of some 'powerful contractors' or 'funders' responsible for the insertions in the budget," Lacson said.

"Having said that, the investigation of this instant case should dig deeper to determine under whose direction Calalo was offering the bribe money. And I am not referring to higher DPWH officials but to the 'funder/s' or the lawmaker/s who made the insertions in the 2025 GAA," he added.

He said the Philippine National Police's (PNP) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, or even the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) "should step in to pursue an expanded and more extensive investigation and not stop at filing a case against Calalo."

Lacson cited information reaching him showing the bribe offer was related to the reported P3.6 billion worth of “approved” budget under the 2025 GAA in the form of “kickbacks," which was supposed to represent 10 percent (or P360 million), or an increase from the usual 5 to 6 percent “passing through” or “parking fee” for the district representative having jurisdiction over the project sites.