Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste has called "checkmate" on Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon on his request for the latter to follow through on his word to release the Cabral files.

The Cabral files or Cabral list refers to DPWH budget documents that Leviste received from the late undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral last September. Leviste had claimed that Dizon himself told Cabral to share the files to him "in the interest of transparency".

"Checkmate po," Leviste said in a Facebook post on Sunday, Dec. 28, as if he was playing virtual chess with an evasive Dizon.

Since Dec. 24, Leviste--who had been advocating for transparency in the DPWH budget--had been dumping dozens of documents online that were reportedly sourced from Cabral. Dizon has yet to attest tp their legitimacy, however.

"Binigyan ko ng ilang araw ang DPWH para i-'authenticate' ang mga dokumentong in-upload ko sa Facebook—bilang test kung magsisinungaling ba sila, may itatago, o aamin sa katotohanan. At para makita natin kung ayaw nila talagang isapubliko ang mga files na ito," the neophyte congressman said.

(I gave a few days for the DPWH to “authenticate” the documents that I uploaded on Facebook—as a test if they will lie, hide something, or admit the truth. And to see if they really don’t want the files published.)

"Narito po ang Oct. 1 email ko kay Sec Vince na nagko-confirm ng “FY 2025 DPWH Budget.pdf”, at ang Oct. 20 email ng DPWH kung saan ipinadala sa akin ang “FY 2026 DPWH HGAB summary by DEO_LD.pdf” “as per instruction of Sec. Vince Dizon" kasama ang pirma ni Sec Vince," Leviste said.

(Attached is my Oct. 1 email to Sec Vince confirming “FY 2025 DPWH Budget.pdf” and the Oct. 20 email of DPWH where they sent me the “FY 2026 DPWH HGAB summary by DEO_LD.pdf” “as per instruction of Sec. Vince Dizon" with the signature of Sec Vince.)

HGAB means House General Appropriations Bill, of the House version of the proposed national budget. In this case, it's the P6.793-trillion GAB for 2026.

In a separate radio interview Sunday, Leviste once again mentioned the possibility that certain people might be trying to prevent the DPWH chief from exposing the files himself.

"Ito po ang katotohanan: Sinabi sakin ni Sec. Vince nung September na isasa-publiko niya ito. Naniniwala po ako na gusto ni Sec. Vince na i-reporma ang DPWH (This is the truth: Sec. Vince told me last September that he would make this public. I believe that Sec. Vince wants to reform the DPWH)," Leviste said.

"Kaya ang panawagan ko na lang sana ay wag natin i-pressure si Sec. Vince ma itago ang katotohanan. Kalimutan niyo na po ako. May datos naman ang DPWH (So my appeal is that we should not pressure Sec. Vince to hide the truth. Forget about me. The DPWH has the data)," added the 32-year-old former billionaire businessman.

"Sana hayaan natin si Sec. Vince na isapubliko lahat ng datos--magkano ang 'allocable' ng bawat pulitiko, sino ang nag-propose ng lahat ng mga proyekto, bahala na po sino ang matamaan. Yan po ang aking panawagan.

(I hope we allow Sec. Vince to make all the data public—how much is 'allocable' to each politician, who proposed all the projects, and let the chips fall where they may. That is my appeal.)

"Mahirap po talaga na ilabas ang mga listahan na nandoon ang mga pangalan ng halos buong ng gobyerno. Pero kung ito po ang tama at may magaling tayong DPWH secretary, sana huwag natin siyang pigilan na ilabas ang katotohanan," Leviste further said.

(It is indeed difficult to release lists that contain the names of almost the entire government. But if this is the right thing to do, and we have a capable DPWH secretary, then I hope we do not stop him from revealing the truth.)