Dizon denies links to flood control insertions alleged by Leviste
MANILA, Philippines – Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon denied on Tuesday Batangas Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste’s allegations linking him to supposed flood control insertions in the national budget.
“[Dizon] categorically denies the baseless and malicious allegations made by Rep. Leandro Leviste regarding supposed ‘insertions’ or ‘allocables’,” the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said in a statement.
Leviste accused Dizon of making insertions in the controversial infrastructure projects funded through the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).
In a separate statement, the BC also shut down Leviste’s allegations, saying “no such funds exist within BCDA projects or its authority. Claims to the contrary are unsupported by evidence and false.”
READ: Leviste: Alleged Dizon agent called about my district allocations
“BCDA does not receive or control discretionary funds and does not participate in budget insertions. All projects are financed only through approved government programs, released through the National Treasury, implemented under the General Appropriations Act, and governed by procurement laws and Commission on Audit rules,” the BCDA added.
The group also welcomed an investigation, saying the BDCA’s records are open to oversight institutions.
Meanwhile, the DPWH said the timing of Leviste’s allegations “raises suspicions,” after the agency’s staff reported that the lawmaker “forcefully and illegally” took the late Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral’s files supposedly containing data on infrastructure allocations.
Dizon previously denied that he had authenticated the documents in Leviste’s possession, adding that he had never seen them, prompting Malacañang to call for a probe of how the congressman got hold of the so-called “Cabral files.”
The Office of the Ombudsman is set to examine the files in the congressman’s possession.
On December 24, Leviste began sparsely releasing the data contained in the documents after Cabral died on December 18.
By Christmas Day, Leviste had released data showing the DPWH budget allocations per district, province and region from 2023 to 2026 amounting to around P3.5 trillion.
The files showed that the biggest allocations by region went to Central Luzon with P406.9 billion, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) with P341.8 billion, and the Bicol region, P272.3 billion.
The summary also revealed unprogrammed appropriations from 2023 to 2024 amounting to P213.8 billion. /gsg
