Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste felt compelled to set the record straight Saturday, Oct. 18 on his remarks about the just-resigned Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Arrey Perez.

Perez resigned on Friday, October 18 after Leviste suggested that a background check be done on him and questioned his fitness to oversee the bidding of projects at DPWH, which since Sept. 2 had been led by Secretary Vince Dizon.

In earlier press briefings, the 32-year-old congressman claimed that Perez--Dizon's appointee--had linked to contractors.

“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 clarified.

The rookie legislator was earlier quoted as saying that Perez was the one photographed.

Dizon has confirmed that members of his team have had meetings with contractors outside the DPWH office, but said: “It is not disallowed, pero siyempre… Parang alanganin iyun (But of course...it doesn't look good), correct? Pero hindi siya illegal... Pero mas maganda sana kung sa opisina…(But it's not illegal... but it would have been if it was held in the office)."

"Ang importante dito, nag-uusap sila para sa trabaho, iyun po ang importante, at hindi sila nag-uusap dahil meron naghihingian, meron mga nagbibigayan (What’s important here is that they’re talking for work, that’s what matters, and not because they’re asking things from each other or giving things to one another)," the DPWH chief said.

To this, Leviste said to Dizon: “While I am thankful for what Secretary Dizon has already done, I also hope he will respond to these three points that I’ve been raising."

"(1) Disclose each DPWH official’s connections and meetings with contractors, and how we will ensure they do not get kickbacks; (2) Release the DPWH budget per legislative district (NEP and GAB), as committed in the Sept. 17 budget hearing, and list of proponents, as requested by others and are readily available; and (3) Lower prices by 25 percent,” Leviste said.

Regarding the mysterious phone call that Leviste received in the middle of his press briefing on on Thursday,, Oct. 16, Dizon confirmed that he had a member of his team call the solon during that presser. This was the first time when Leviste said Dizon's appointees were contractors or had connections to contractors.

“Nagpatawag po ako ng aming common na kaibigan para malaman ko po sana ang detalye. Gusto ko malaman sino (I asked our common friend to call to him so I may know the details. I wanted to know who they are)," Dizon said.

Leviste clarified that he never asked for the resignation of Perez or any DPWH official for that matter.

"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.