Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste appeared to have softened his stance on the alleged P2 million “bonus” he alleged was received by some House members, saying it was not necessarily wrong.
Leviste made the clarification after several of his colleagues berated him for insinuating the “bonus” was in exchange for signing the 2026 budget when it was in fact meant for operating expenses.
“I did not say the funding will only be released if you vote for the budget. It just so happened the release was made around the time we were voting on the budget,” he said in an interview on dzMM yesterday.
“I am not saying this is wrong. From the very start, I never said it should be removed. It should only be made public,” Leviste added.
Several solons have called out Leviste for his Christmas bonus claim.
“First and foremost, there is a clear pattern of lies, falsities, and inaccuracies coming from Congressman Leviste, and this is yet another example of that,” Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said.
Ridon said the funds in question are part of the House of Representatives’ budget for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).
“It is not true that there is a P2 million Christmas bonus. Funds were provided for congressional offices to support their activities and programs. These funds are part of the extraordinary miscellaneous expenses allocated to the offices and do not end up in the wallets of lawmakers,” he said.
House members also received only the 13th and 14th month pay, like other government employees, Ridon added.
Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong called Leviste “unfair and disingenuous” for making such accusation.
“You can see the cheques he presented. The mere fact that these were all issued under his name proves that they are well-recorded, audited, and within legal bounds… There is misrepresentation. The checks he provided to the media were actually for his district’s operational expenses and his salary,” he said.
Adiong said the Leviste apparently wants to paint himself in a positive light at the expense of other House members.
Palawan 2nd district Rep. Jose Alvarez, a member of the House contingent in the bicameral conference committee, added: “These (cheques) are lawful, audited, and well-documented disbursements that every member of the House receives to cover the salaries of legislators and to ensure their district offices can function properly and deliver services on the ground.”
As this developed, Leviste yesterday called on the Office of the Ombudsman to make public the so-called “Cabral list,” a copy of which the Batangas solon said is in his possession.
“I hope that they can make it public. If the DPWH gave it to them, and the DPWH said it is now up to the Ombudsman what to do with it,” he said.
“If in the next few weeks, the Ombudsman has an update about it, that’s very good news. The sooner that they can authenticate it, the better,” he added.
Earlier, the Office of the Ombudsman and Malacanang raised concerns over Leviste’s so-called “Cabral files,” noting that the documents may have been manipulated and remain subject to verification.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said investigators from the Office of the Ombudsman approached Leviste after he claimed to have received a complete list from the late public works undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral but the lawmaker “did not present the entire set of files he claimed to possess, even when asked to do so.”
Clavano said this happened when Cabral was still alive and was already represented by a lawyer in the investigation into anomalous flood control projects.
“We reiterate that the shared objective of all concerned institutions and even individuals should be very clear at this point. We need to establish facts, we need to uphold transparency, and we need to hold accountable any individual found to have committed any wrongdoing. So, all our actions must lead to these,” Clavano said.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro described Leviste’s “list” as hearsay until it is officially authenticated by the DPWH.
