Leandro Leviste fires back at Vince Dizon after DPWH chief says he has not authenticated supposed Cabral files
Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste hit back at Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon after the official said he had not authenticated any documents belonging to the late Catalina Cabral, now in Leviste’s possession.
"Nasaan na ang Vince Dizon ng September—na tumawag kay USec Cabral para ipabigay sa akin ang mga files 'in the spirit of transparency'?" Leviste wrote in his Facebook post on Dec. 27.
"Kung hindi aaminin ni Sec Vince na pinabigay niya sa akin ang mga authentic na files na ito, mapipilitan akong pangalanan ang mga taong kumausap sa akin upang huwag itong ilabas—na maaaring sila rin ang pumipigil kay Sec Vince na kumpirmahin ang authenticity ng mga files," he added.
Prior to this, Dizon made a statement that he had not authenticated any documents held by Leviste.
"For the record, wala akong ina-authenticate na dokumento na hawak ni Cong. dahil wala akong, hindi ko nakikita kung anong sinasabi niyang dokumento. So paano ko maa-authenticate yon?" Dizon told GMA Integrated News.
Dizon added that Cabral called him in September, saying that Leviste had been "forcibly" retrieving the files containing the budget allocations per district.
"Nagpilit siyang kumuha ng mga files at ginamit pa niya ‘yung computer ng isang staff. Ang sabi sakin ni Usec. Cabral ay nagpilit siyang i-use sa kaniyang flash drive galing doon sa computer ng isang staff ni Usec. Cabral," he told the outlet.
For his part, Leviste denied the claim. "Marami pong nagtatanong sa akin, bakit hindi ko ito isinapubliko nung September pa? Kasi sabi ni Sec. Vince sa akin na isasapubliko niya," he said.
"I got the documents after Usec. Cabral had a phone call with [DPWH] Secretary Vince. And I talked with Secretary Vince about this being released to the public. And Sec. Vince said he agrees. I thought that Sec Vince was going to release this to the public in September and at the very least give it to the ICI and the Ombudsman,” he continued.
"I can't imagine that Sec. Dizon would lie like that, because there are other part of my discussions with Sec. Vince, when Sec. Vince said to release the files to me in the interest of transparency. Although he was just a few days on the job when he said this," Leviste said.
He earlier said that Dizon, other DPWH officials, and members of Congress will authenticate the files he uploaded on Dec. 24.
Cabral died on Dec. 18 after allegedly falling off a ravine along Kennon Road in Tuba, Benguet. She was one of the former DPWH officials accused of facilitating budget insertions through the NEP by way of substandard and ghost projects and faced administrative charges.
On Dec. 23, the DPWH surrendered to the Ombudsman her files and computer that she had used during her 10-year stint in the agency.
