Leviste claims admin allies asked him to travel, stop releasing docs

MANILA, Philippines — Batangas Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste has admitted that he is traveling overseas, claiming that administration representatives asked him to “go abroad and stop releasing evidence” regarding the infrastructure corruption investigation.

Leviste made the claim on Friday, after members of the media asked him whether reports that he is set to travel to 20 countries are true.

The lawmaker did not directly confirm that he is traveling to 20 countries, but noted that he asked for a travel authority “upon the request of representatives of the administration.”

READ: Leandro Leviste: From energy wonderkid to controversy magnet

“I asked for the travel authority upon the request of representatives of the administration who asked that I go abroad and stop releasing evidence linking government officials to anomalous DPWH projects — but this does not mean that I will be abroad for that whole time,” Leviste said in a message to reporters on Viber.

“I will be present at any opportunity that Congress gives me to speak on any issue, as long as I am asked or allowed,” he added.

When asked to identify who are the people who asked him to leave, Leviste refused to name names, saying that the representatives asked his mother, Senator Loren Legarda, not to be named.

Leviste was also asked as to the position or occupation of the said representatives, but he has not replied as of posting time.

“Several high-level representatives of the administration have requested this—to my mom, so that I do not name them,” he said.

Leviste, a neophyte lawmaker, has been one of the more controversial figures from the House of Representatives of the 20th Congress.  The lawmaker first made headlines when he proposed to provide all students, regardless of grade level and financial status, a P1,000 monthly allowance.

The Batangas solon focused on this proposal and a suggestion to lower taxes, before he set his sights on the infrastructure corruption scheme.  Leviste first made suggestions regarding how to lower project costs and avoid corrupt practices, before eventually accusing fellow lawmakers of wrongdoing.

In November, Leviste claimed to have obtained documents that implicated lawmakers and contractors in terms of “pre-ordering” DPWH projects at the National Expenditures Program level — or having projects assigned to a particular lawmaker or contractor even before Congress gets to deliberate on the budget.

Leviste said the document came from files given to him by former Public Works Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.

When Cabral died due to a fall off a Kennon Road’s portion in Tuba, Benguet, Leviste claimed to have a copy of the documents previously in the late official’s possession.  The claim set off discussions as to how Leviste obtained the document, whether these were credible, and the lawmaker’s goal behind the exposé. /mr