Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste could end up facing an ethics complaint in the House of Representatives over his alleged unlawful acquisition of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget files from the late former undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.

Thus, said Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon on Tuesday, Dec. 30, in reaction to a television news report that supposedly exposed how Leviste forcibly gained possession of the so-called "Cabral files".

“From the very beginning, Rep. Leviste has insisted that he had full authority from DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon to acquire relevant documents from former DPWH Undersecretary Catalina Cabral. It is on this supposed authority that the credibility of his entire disclosures is built," Ridon said.

"However, this supposed authority has been flatly rejected by Secretary Dizon himself. What is unraveling today is not the acquisition of the Cabral files based on official authority, but the acquisition of documents based on an unlawful taking by Rep. Leviste,” noted the lawyer-solon.

In the TV news report, a staff member of the Cabral's accused Leviste of illegally obtaining and copying the budget documents, allegedly upon the instruction of Dizon.

Leviste has yet to issue a denial as of this posting. Instead, he shared the news report on his Facebook. 

Leviste--who has presented himself as an anti-infrastructure corruption crusader--has been posting these DPWH budget documents on his Facebook since Dec. 24. All this time, he has asked Dizon to authenticate the documents, but the latter has not done so.

Ridon stressed that allegations involving the unlawful acquisition and handling of official documents merit scrutiny under congressional ethics proceedings.

He added that ethics proceedings exist to ensure matters of public importance are resolved through facts and due process—not by speculation, social media narratives, or incomplete information—especially when the authenticity of evidence has yet to be conclusively established.

Leviste should be made to account—clearly and on the record—for how the Cabral files were obtained, copied, stored, and circulated, and whether actual authority was granted to him by Dizon to obtain these files, Ridon said.

He said that while the public may debate the authenticity and content of the Cabral files, a red line is crossed when government records are obtained without official authority.

“When the acquisition of the evidence itself is under question, institutions cannot afford to look the other way. Congress has a responsibility to protect the integrity of its processes, the rule of law, and public trust," Ridon said.

“If the truth is the goal, then process and the rule of law matter,” added the Committee on Public Accounts chairman.

Ridon noted that allegations of improperly obtaining and reproducing official documents implicate core ethical duties of legislators: respect for the law, avoidance of abuse of position, and protection of the integrity of congressional inquiries.

“We cannot allow the House to become a venue where evidence is sourced through questionable means and then laundered into legitimacy through publicity,” he said.

Ridon added that when documents are allegedly taken outside lawful channels and reproduced informally, their reliability as evidence is compromised—particularly when questions persist regarding chain of custody, completeness, and authenticity.

He says this creates the risk that matters of public consequence are driven by selective leaks and unverified copies rather than accountable, verifiable records.