Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste has doubled down on the need for a proper, technical audit of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) flood control projects in his district.

"We are trying our best to audit the projects of DPWH in the 1st district of Batangas, with the help of the affected LGUs (local government units). We’ve even hired engineers and consultants at my own expense," Legarda Leviste, the country’s youngest self-made billionaire, said in a statement Sunday, Aug. 31.

"But it will be hard for us to solve the problems of the DPWH Batangas 1st District Engineering Office without the help of DPWH," he admitted.

Legarda Levite recently grabbed headlines for rejecting a multi-million pero bribe from a local district engineer who sought to secure infrastructure projects on behalf of certain contractors. The 32-year-old rookie solon had the district engineer nabbed last week in an entrapment operation by police.

Legard Leviste said afterward that the authorities' focus should not be on the bribery attempt, but on whether or not Filipinos were getting their money's worth when it comes to these anti-flood projects.

Following the engineer's arrests, Legarda Leviste led inspections at several spots in the first district with known infrastructure works. What he saw disappointed him.

Along the Binambang River in Balayan, Batangas, where there are approximately P1 billion worth of flood control projects, sheet piles were measured at only 3.9 to 5.5 meters instead of the required 15 meters. The DPWH is now replacing these at the contractor’s expense with sheet piles measuring 15 meters, but the solon has yet to receive an explanation from the DPWH as to why the original sheet piles were shorter than they should have been.

Along the Pansipit River in Lemery, Batangas, where there are also approximately P1 billion worth of flood control projects, sheet piles were measured at only 6.1 to 9.1 meters instead of the required 12 meters. After Legarda Leviste’s audit, the contractor transported the sheet piles away from the site.

The Lemery LGU also said that it had not been informed about the DPWH project, which had no building permit.

A recently widened segment of Diokno Highway in Calaca, Batangas, collapsed during Typhoon '"rising". When Legarda Leviste sought help from the DPWH Regional Office, which implemented the project, he was initially told that additional funding would be needed since the damage was caused by the strong typhoon and not the contractor’s fault. However, the DPWH is now repairing the highway at the contractor’s expense.

While conducting these investigations, Leviste's office and the affected LGUs have requested certain documents from the DPWH, which they have not yet received.

“Beyond repairing damaged or substandard projects and re-assigning the involved personnel, I respectfully ask Secretary [Manuel] Bonoan to help in the investigation on the DPWH projects in the Batangas 1st District Engineering Office to prevent these issues from happening again,” he said.