The Department of Public Works and Highways yesterday turned over to the Ombudsman the computer and 10 years’ worth of files from the office of the late undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, but it was not clear if the so-called “Cabral list” of proponents of insertions in the 2025 budget of the DPWH was part of the documents.
“The CPU and files of Usec. Cabral have been sealed and delivered to the custody of the Office of the Ombudsman. It will remain sealed until we are able to do a digital forensic test,” Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said.
As this developed, Senate and House leaders challenged the disclosure of Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste on Monday that the so-called Cabral list, which he claimed he has a copy of since September 4, showed all senators, including his mother Senator Loren Legarda, and congressmen had insertions in the 2025 budget for projects lodged under the DPWH.
“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,” Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said.
Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, whom Leviste named in a previous radio interview as having a “standard” insertion of P150 million along with other district and party-list lawmakers, said the Batangas solon must be “made accountable” for peddling “fake news.”
“He needs to be made accountable for making a false accusation that I made an insertion in the 2025 budget,” said Ridon, who was not part of the 19th Congress that passed the 2025 budget. “Congressman Leviste is a super liar.”
“It is only right that he releases these documents immediately. He does not need any advice from Congress or DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon to do this. More importantly, why did he not release this document from the late Undersecretary Catalina Cabral the moment he got it from her last September 4, 2025, which is already three months ago?” Ridon added.
In a Facebook post, Leviste clarified his statement on the P150 million insertion referred to the Bicol Saro party-list and not to Ridon.
Leviste, who has yet to disclose publicly his supposed copy of the list, said he “showed” it to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure on Nov. 19 and to Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Nov. 26.
Clavano, however, said the Ombudsman does not have a copy of the so-called “Cabral list” and urged those who have it to turn it over.
Leviste said he will only make the list public if DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon tells him to do so. Dizon has not made any public statement confirming or denying the said list.
He also clarified yesterday that being included in the list should not be automatically viewed as having committed wrongdoing.
“My mom called my attention as to why I said all senators had insertions. If I may just clarify…having an insertion does not mean it is automatically bad. It is better to be honest though that almost all of us had insertions,” Leviste said.
The Department of Justice said the so-called Cabral list must first be filed as formal evidence before it can be used, along with testimonies alleging that such a list exists, DOJ spokesman Polo Martinez said.
“Further, the list has to be corroborated by evidence other than the list itself. It cannot by itself stand as proof, so there lies the challenge. These are the stringent rules of evidence. Once the pieces of evidence are filed, we will ensure that these are all accurately scrutinized and verified,” he added.
The Ombudsman on Monday issued a subpoena duces tecum directing the DPWH to immediately produce all computer and electronic devices issued to Cabral.
The DPWH said the files were “documents and other requests for consideration in the programming of NEP (National Expenditure Program) in the last 10 years, among others” but did not say if the so-called Cabral list was already included.
DPWH undersecretaries Nicasio Conti, Arthur Bisnar, Ricardo Bernabe III, and Charles Calima Jr. turned over the files to the Ombudsman yesterday.
Cabral served as DPWH Undersecretary for Planning and Public-Private Partnership from 2014 until her resignation in September this year after being implicated in allegedly anomalous flood control projects.
Former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo earlier told a Senate hearing that Cabral created the so-called “allocable” system where lawmakers can make insertions in the DPWH budget.
