Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste thanked on Tuesday, Jan. 6 lawyer Mae Divinagracia, the counsel of the family of the late Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, for confirming several of his claims regarding the so-called “Cabral files”.

Leviste, a self-styled anti-infrastructure corruption crusader, was referring to Divinagracia's interview Monday, Jan. 5.

In that interview, Divinagracia reportedly said that Cabral “confirmed that Congressman Leviste obtained documents from her office”, and that the late official “showed us six boxes of documents” which included “a document that’s ostensibly similar to the document that was released by Congressman Leviste".

Attributing Cabral, Divinagracia also said that “some of [the documents] would relate to the preparation of the annual budget proposal of the DPWH spanning the years 2023 to 2025".

These papers supposedly included “mga requests, meron mga notes from the Secretary, meron some bore the names of proponents, some parang tabular list of projects (requests, some notes from the Secretary, some bore the names of proponents, some looked like tabular list of projects)".

According to Leviste, Divinagracia’s description of the list of projects with names of proponents and notes from the Secretary corresponds with his copy of the files, as well as those that he has seen from others who recently secured copies of the same files from DPWH.

“Atty. Divinagracia confirmed the files exist and are with the DPWH. In that respect, we have done our part in letting the public know the files exist, and can now leave it to the DPWH to release the files to the public in the interest of transparency," he said.

"It is best that we let the DPWH or Ombudsman be the one to release the files to the public, so the files can be authenticated and explained,” noted the neophyte congressman.

Leviste, 32, was recently called out by for allegedly taking and copying DPWH budget documents from Cabral's office by force in September 2025 when she was still alive. He began publicly sharing dozens of budget-related files last Dec. 24.

When asked if Leviste forcibly took documents from Cabral’s office, Divinagracia said that Cabral did not say that.

The lawyer reportedly said Cabral “during the interview with the Office of the Ombudsman, she confirmed that Congressman Leviste obtained documents from her office.”

Leviste pointed out that Cabral had many opportunities to say that the documents were taken by force, but didn't say so.

The Batangueño added: “As was asked in Atty. Divinagracia’s interview yesterday, I also heard that USec Cabral was told that she could be made state witness if she implicated [former] DBM Secretary Mina Pangandaman, and USec Cabral did not do so because she did not want to say something that was not true.

"This reflects the honesty of USec Cabral, and more broadly, how testimonies that do not fit certain narratives have been left out of investigations.”

Leviste said that Cabral shared with him on Sept. 4 that she felt bad about having been made to tender a courtesy resignation instead of availing of an early retirement, in support of Divinagracia’s statement that “What really started [Cabral feeling bad] was when she was summarily dismissed, although under the guise of a courtesy resignation…after 40 years of service and when she was denied her retirement pay and she felt that she was being used as a scapegoat for the men or the individuals who are really culpable or responsible for this flood control mess.”

Leviste said he did not plan to comment on the matter anymore if there would be no new developments that would need his comment.