Batangas Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste denied the claim of arrested Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineer in Batangas, Abelardo Calalo, that he asked him “to collect donations from construction contractors.
“I was in shock, I was not the one telling him to give me the donation. He was the one that said he has something with him,” Leviste said in a television interview.
“This is my first term in Congress, so I was shocked that he could be so open about discussing that and I was a bit speechless actually when he said that. So he took it upon himself to bring it. I did not ask for him to give me the donation. He brought it, and he was the one who said, ‘I have it here,’” he added.
The first-term legislator also questioned why Calalo did not mention the names of the contractors and proponents of DPWH projects in the first district of Batangas, especially since the donations came along with receipts of three projects under one company.
“I’m not sure why he is not mentioning this salient information about the identity of the contractor who he has been talking to and he has mentioned to me in our conversation,” he said.
Calalo, who is facing graft and corruption of public official charges, claimed in his counter-affidavit that the accusations against him were part of the “political agenda.”
“I vehemently deny the accusations against me. The same are either contrived or founded on a twisting of the truth, and clearly as part of a political agenda,” he said in a statement.
Calalo said another lawmaker as early as May had instructed him “to collect donations from construction contractors with existing 2025 DPWH projects within the 1st District of Batangas as a show of support for the projects and programs of… Leviste.” He did not name the legislator.
