BATANGAS Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste said arrested district engineer Abelardo Calalo told him that former Rep. Eric Buhain was the one who chose contractors for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects in the first district of the province.
Leviste made the statement in a television interview when asked if his predecessor was “on the take.”
Leviste replied, “Yes,” in reference to Calalo’s response to him, citing “kickbacks” in government projects.
“Actually, he (Calalo) said… in almost sweeping terms, all of the projects have,” Leviste added when asked if Calalo really confirmed that such practice existed in the past administration in Batangas’ second district.
Leviste further confirmed that it was indeed his predecessor who chose the contractors.
“What he explained to me was that the DPWH’s job is to publish the bids, and then in the case of that particular congressman, contractors arrive, maybe buy the bidding documents, they bid, and somehow there is a certain contractor that wins. And you can see from the list of projects that a few contractors have cornered the lion’s share of projects in that district,” he added.
Leviste said in the interview that Calalo repeatedly confirmed the practice of “kickbacks” of about 10 to 20 percent from contractors chosen for government flood control projects.
“There’s 10 to 20 percent,” the lawmaker said. “I think that the district engineer doesn’t know exactly how much a congressman gets during transactions because they go directly to the contractor. What he said is that the contractors give the SOP to the congressman so the district engineer does not know.”
Leviste added: “There are others that pass through the district engineer, and other congressmen and senators have been making public statements about how that culture should also change. But there are congressmen who are adept at this practice, sometimes they themselves are the contractor. So there are different models, but in the particular case of the district of Batangas, one family has been entrenched in this district for a long time, which is why they seem to have had a good handle on how to manage these DPWH budgets.”
Leviste was referring to Buhain and his wife, former Batangas Rep. Eileen Ermita-Buhain. As of press time, the Buhains have yet to respond to the issue.
Malacañang on Wednesday said it would be better if President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. could talk to Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste regarding the anomalous flood control projects.
