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MANILA, Philippines — Documents linked to alleged budget insertions involving the late former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Catalina Cabral have already been turned over to authorities, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said, as he called for restraint in publicly discussing materials associated with her.
“That said, I have always instructed my staff to consolidate and turn over whatever documents I have, whether from usec Cabral or any other sources, to the ICI (Independent Commission for Infrastructure), ombudsman or DOJ (Department of Justice), as we have been consistently doing since the time I delivered my two privilege speeches all the way to the Senate BRC (Blue Ribbon committee) investigations,” Lacson said.
His statement came after Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Leviste claimed that Cabral had shared files related to alleged insertions and had expressed willingness to serve as a state witness before her death.
Asked whether he had received similar documents or would seek copies for a Senate inquiry, Lacson said such matters should be left to the proper authorities.
“I’d rather give first the late usec Cabral’s family some space to grieve and mourn their loss. Matters of disclosing whatever files she shared before her death can still be done by concerned authorities at the proper time and venue,” he said.
Lacson said he is unaware of the specific documents cited by Leviste and could not say whether these were similar to those already submitted to investigating bodies.
He, however, welcomed Leviste’s efforts, saying he was glad that there is a lawmaker “hardworking enough to secure material documents” that could help shed light on ongoing investigations into alleged anomalies in infrastructure projects involving corrupt government officials.
Cabinet execs, too
According to Leviste, some Cabinet secretaries and undersecretaries outside the DPWH have allegedly proposed flood control projects in the 2025 budget.
“There are even private individuals who submit projects to the DPWH NEP (National Expenditure Program),” Leviste told “Storycon” on One News yesterday.
Leviste claimed he got the list from Cabral, who got the clearance from then newly installed DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon.
While he admitted that proposing a project is not necessarily wrong, Leviste underscored the need to make the list public to allow scrutiny of how these were awarded.
“It’s not conclusive, but it is some indication of evidence that there is some transaction involved in proposing a project and the contractors that got the project… The clearest example of this is the cases where the proponent is an owner of the company that ends up as the contractor of the project,” he said.
“Some of the congressmen and senators and other officials named in the proponents might also have some links to the contractors that ended up being awarded with the projects… If the identities which are available are disclosed, then the public can do some research. What is the connection between the proponent and the contractor that ends up doing the project?” he added.
Pressed to name names, Leviste said he will only do so if given the go signal by Dizon.
“It runs in the tens of billions of pesos. They have different and various names,” Leviste said in a separate interview with radio dzBB.
“Undersecretary Cabral had a breakdown. There were also data for other years. And among those mentioned in the list are DPWH-initiated and Congress-initiated allocations,” the lawmaker said, revealing the period where flood control corruption was at its peak was in fiscal year 2025.
There was also mention of a “minimum or standard” P150-million allocation for every House member, which he personally knows, but claimed he has no idea how much their Senate counterparts were entitled to.
He, however, admitted seeing his mother’s name in the “Cabral Files.”
“My mom’s name was on the list, yes. So, I asked her, but she told me she knew nothing about it since Cabral has not talked to her or consulted her about it,” Leviste said, pertaining to Sen. Loren Legarda.
‘Leadership fund’
In addition to the so-called allocables, or the supposed budget allocated for each congressional district, Leviste also confirmed the existence of a supposed “leadership fund” in the proposed DPWH budget.
He claimed that this makes up the bulk of the P320 billion worth of projects on top of the P410-billion “allocables” this year.
Leviste was not able to clearly explain who proposes the projects that get funded by this leadership fund, saying these exist in various congressional districts, such as in his jurisdiction.
“I hope that DPWH can make public more information about the budget. I can imagine that they’re sitting on a wealth of information that can be very interesting to the public,” the lawmaker said.
In a related development, Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon blasted Leviste for name-dropping him as one of the politicians who had insertions in the 2025 budget.
“How could I have insertions in a budget I had no part in crafting?” Ridon, who assumed office in June this year, said.
Cabral gadgets subpoenaed
The Office of the Ombudsman has issued a subpoena directing the DPWH to “immediately turn over” all computer and other electronic devices previously issued to Cabral for forensic examination.
In a press statement sent via Viber, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said the forensic examination of Cabral’s computer and other electronic devices by an appropriate law enforcement agency is necessary “to determine whether any data was altered, deleted or tampered with after the flood control scandal was first made public.”
“The Office expects prompt and full compliance with the subpoena in the interest of accountability and the integrity of the ongoing investigation,” Clavano said.
He said that should any data from Cabral’s gadgets be found to have been altered, tampered or deleted, the gadgets will be subjected to “further forensics to dig for the deleted and altered information.”
Based on the copy of the subpoena duces tecum released to the media by the DPWH, among those ordered to be turned over to the ombudsman’s General Investigation Bureau-Field Investigation Office II were Cabral’s computer and electronic devices which may include solid state drive, hard disk drive, portable universal serial bus (USB) drives and memory cards, remote cloud storage and “other official computer or data storage devices.”
The DPWH was also requested to issue a letter of authorization that would allow the ombudsman to deliver the devices to the Philippine National Police Anti-Cyber Crime Group, which will conduct the digital forensic examination.
Meanwhile, in a separate subpoena, the ombudsman also directed the DPWH to likewise turnover to the ombudsman’s General Investigation Bureau-Field Investigation Office II “all documents, records, papers and files” under the official custody and control of the DPWH Planning and Public-Private Partnership Services, the office previously held by Cabral. — Janvic Mateo, Delon Porcalla, Rainier Allan Ronda, Artemio Dumlao, Elizabeth Marcelo
