Metro Manila, Philippines – Malacañang dismissed allegations that sitting Cabinet secretaries were involved in controversial insertions in the proposed 2025 infrastructure budget, saying the claims lack verification and amount to hearsay.
Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace press officer Claire Castro said the government would only address documents that have been officially authenticated by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
“The Palace will only respond to the documents authenticated by DPWH. Other than these, they will all be considered as hearsay or tsismis which have no probative value,” Castro said in a Viber message to reporters.
Castro issued the statement following claims made by Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, who alleged that some Cabinet secretaries and senior officials were listed as proponents of DPWH budget insertions. Leviste said the documents supporting his claim were provided to him on Sept. 4 by the late DPWH undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.
In a recent interview on The Newsmaker, Leviste said the files purportedly showed that not only lawmakers but also officials outside Congress and the Senate were linked to project insertions in the DPWH budget.
“Meron din mga opisyal sa labas ng Kongreso at Senado na may mga insertions din ayon sa listahang ito. Kabilang po dito ang mga Cabinet secretaries and undersecretaries,” Leviste said, adding that these officials had no direct role in DPWH.
[Translation: There are also officials outside Congress and the Senate who have insertions according to this list. This includes Cabinet secretaries and undersecretaries.]
He further claimed that the documents suggested the insertions appeared to serve as a form of compensation for government officials who were not involved in proposing projects under the DPWH budget.
“Kaya yun po sa tingin ko ang glaring takeaway sa file na ito — parang naging compensation ang DPWH insertions para sa mga kawani ng gobyerno na wala namang business proposing projects sa DPWH budget,” he said.
[Translation: So, for me, the glaring takeaway from this file is that the DPWH insertions seem to have become a form of compensation for government employees who have no business proposing projects in the DPWH budget.]
When asked during the interview whether some of the officials named were still serving in the Cabinet, Leviste replied, “Yes, marami po,” [Translation: Yes, there are many.] noting that while budget insertions were widely expected, the level of detail in the records could be useful for investigations.
Malacañang, however, maintained that allegations based on unauthenticated documents would not merit an official response, reiterating that only records verified by DPWH would be addressed by the Palace.
