No real DPWH bidding in Batangas district, engineer tells Leviste
MANILA, Philippines — The district engineer who bribed Rep. Leandro Leviste (Batangas, 1st District) bared that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the district did not carry out genuine procurements.
“Ipinaliwanag sa akin ni DE (district engineer) ang sistema sa pa-award ng mga proyekto sa unang distrito ng Batangas. Ayon sa aking sworn statement, hindi nagkakaroon ng tunay na mga bidding sa DPWH projects sa unang distrito ng Batangas,” Leviste said at a press conference on Tuesday, August 26.
(The district engineer explained to me the system of awarding projects in the first district of Batangas. According to my sworn statement, there are no genuine biddings for DPWH projects in the first district of Batangas.)
He added that the engineer, Abelardo Calalo, also explained how kickbacks from flood control and road projects were shared between lawmakers and contractors.
Leviste divulged the details after filing bribery and graft cases against Calalo, who was arrested after reportedly offering an initial P3.1 million in cash to the lawmaker, a known billionaire, in a bid to stop the probe into Batangas’ government infrastructure projects.
He said the bag of cash came with a receipt for three contracts worth P104 million, noting that 3% of the amount was inside as an initial payment. Leviste added that another contractor was “ready to withdraw” P15 million in cash.
Congressman selects contractors
According to the legislator, Calalo claimed that the district’s congressman typically selects the contractor for a project, who in turn provides what they call the “SOP” — the standard operating procedure, or simply known as kickbacks.
Without naming names, Leviste said he learned from Calalo about the biggest contractors in Batangas’ 1st District, as well as the individuals who allegedly brought them into rigged government biddings and facilitated their wins under the previous congressman.
“Pinipili lang daw ng congressman ang contractor na binigay ng SOP. Pinangalanan din ni DE sa akin ang pinakamalalaking mga contractors sa unang distrito ng Batangas, kung sino ang mga taong nagpasok at pumili sa kanila para manalo sa bidding noong panahon ng dating congressman,” he said.
(The congressman would simply choose the contractor who gave the SOP. The district engineer also named the biggest contractors in the 1st District of Batangas, as well as the individuals who brought them in and selected them to win the bidding during the time of the previous congressman.)
Leviste won against former Rep. Eric Buhain in the district representative race of the 2025 midterm elections.
If he had accepted Calalo’s offer, Leviste said he would have met with a contractor set to provide millions in kickbacks from DPWH projects already awarded to them for 2025.
15% kickback from DPWH?
He added that over the span of three years, the DPWH payoff would have probably exceeded P1 billion, all allocated for the representative of Batangas’ 1st District.
“Sa loob ng tatlong taon, aabot po siguro sa mahigit P1 billion ang DPWH project kickbacks na nakalaan para sa congressman ng unang distrito ng Batangas,” he said.
(In three years, the DPWH project kickbacks intended for the congressman of Batangas’ 1st District would likely have reached over P1 billion.)
What Leviste wanted to stress, however, is that the corruption does not end with Calalo or any district engineer, believing “there are bigger fish to catch.”
“For future projects, … I have heard that SOPs for DPWH projects can be 15% or more. If in one district, there is over P300 million possibly of SOP for a congressman per year, then there are actually far graver crimes committed everyday than the one incident that we happened to have caught last Friday,” he said.
He recommended turning Calalo into a state witness for the probe into DPWH projects, saying some other employees are likely “more guilty” of the alleged corruption.
Leviste, a neophyte lawmaker, has been inspecting the different flood control and road projects in the 1st District of Batangas, reporting how many were made of substandard materials.
The House will launch an investigation into the government’s infrastructure projects, looking into the allegations of ties between lawmakers, contractors, the DPWH and other government officials in flood control and other projects.
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