Metro Manila, Philippines – Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson urged Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste to clarify that senators elected only last May were not involved in alleged budget insertions in the current budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
In media interviews, Leviste said former DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalian Cabral had given him files purportedly listing government officials who were proponents of budget insertions for flood control projects.
He said all senators were on the list, including his mother, Senator Loren Legarda, who has denied any knowledge of such insertions. Leviste said their insertions allegedly totaled ₱120 billion.
Lacson, who had previously praised Leviste for his anti-corruption efforts, said the neophyte lawmaker should be more precise in his statements, noting that it was the 19th Congress that passed the current national budget in December 2024.
Lacson and 11 other senators were elected in May 2025 under the 20th Congress.
“Congressman Leviste should at least qualify his statement with the phrase ‘in the 19th Congress’ in fairness to the new members of the 20th Congress, including myself and Senate President Vicente Sotto III, among others,” Lacson said.
“That said, even during the previous Congresses, I never partook of allocables or pork barrel allocations, or whatever names they were called,” he added.
Lacson, who chairs the blue ribbon committee that conducted a legislative inquiry into the alleged flood control corruption, earlier welcomed Leviste’s efforts in securing documents that could aid the investigation into anomalous infrastructure projects. However, he said he prefers to give Cabral’s family time to grieve.
“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.
Cabral was found unconscious near the Bued River below Kennon Road in Tuba, Benguet, Thursday night, Dec. 18, and was later pronounced dead.
She previously faced congressional hearings after Lacson revealed that she had allegedly offered Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III an opportunity to make insertions for the 2026 national budget – an allegation Cabral denied. Former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo also said Cabral facilitated budget insertions and “allocables” for favored projects, allegedly with provisions for kickbacks.
