At A Glance
- Anti-infrastructure corruption crusader Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste has categorically said that the name of his mother, Senator Loren Legarda, was included in the controversial list of the late former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Catalina Cabral.
Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)
Anti-infrastructure corruption crusader Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste has categorically said that the name of his mother, Senator Loren Legarda, was included in the controversial list of the late former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Catalina Cabral.
Rep. Leviste did so in a DZRH radio interview Monday morning, Dec. 22. However, he was quick to defend his senator-mom from any hint of wrongdoing.
During the interview, radio anchor Anthony Taberna asked Rep. Leviste point-blank if the latter's mother was included in Cabral's DPWH insertion proponents list. This, after the Batangas solon had publicized that he was given a copy of the list before Cabral’s mysterious death last week.
"I can say, nandiyan. Tinanong ko siya (Senator Legarda) at sinabi niya, hindi naman niya alam iyong mga nakalista diyan at sa mga senator actually pinakamaliit ang sa kanya,” Leviste told the anchor.
(I can say, it's there. I asked her about it and she said, she wasn't aware about the persons listed there, and among senators, she has the smallest amount.)
“Pero tinanong ko siya talaga at sabi niya, hindi niya alam ang mga ito. Pero kinukumpirma ko po na lahat ng tiningnan ko ay nandiyan sa listahan,” Rep. Leviste added.
(But I really asked her and she said, she didn't know about these things. But I confirm that everyone I looked for, I found on the list.)
He said in the same interview that the Senate made P120 billion in total insertions to the 2025 budget, with P1 billion under the name of Senator Legarda.
Rep. Leviste, a billionaire businessman, said over the weekend that he was ready to release Cabral's list to the public. However, he wants the go signal to come from DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon himself.
"They list proponents of flood control and other DPWH projects from the whole government – not only congressmen and senators, but also people from the executive, including secretaries and undersecretaries outside DPWH, as well as private individuals," the neophyte cognressman said, referring to Cabral's files.
The list reportedly covers insertions in the 2025 national budget worth P6.326 trillion.