Batangas First District Representative Leandro Leviste filed charges on August 23, 2025, against Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Batangas First District Engineer Abelardo Calalo over an alleged P3.1-million bribe attempt in an inquiry into anomalies in flood control projects.
Calalo was arrested earlier that day in Taal, Batangas, on charges of corruption, graft, direct bribery, and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials.
"It is not the single incident last Friday that is the issue here. The real issue here is the substandard projects of DPWH, which we have been investigating for the past weeks," Leviste said.
He added that this attempt may be the motive of someone who wants to stop the effort, stressing that they are not only trying to fix one incident on this personnel, but also the hundreds of millions of pesos worth of missing materials in the flood control projects in the first district of Batangas.
Leviste also linked the P1.5 billion flood control projects to the alleged bribe attempt of Calalo in his district in Batangas, which collapsed after a year of its completion.
DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan already ordered Calalo’s preventive suspension and also criticized his actions.
One of Leviste’s projects is the Binambang River’s flood control wherein it was discovered that the 15-meter length structure wasn’t met upon ordering the removal of the sheet piles at the site.
Calalo refused to issue a statement regarding the matter.
“Ang project na ito sa apat na kontrata na iilang mga contractors sa halagang mahigit P338 million dahil 'yung program of work na pina-bid at in-accept ng DPWH na 'yun daw ang in-install ng mga contractors ay hindi pala sinundan," he added.
In Leviste’s interview with DZMM last Tuesday morning, he mentioned that the bribe money came from a contractor with three ongoing projects in Batangas that has already been awarded.
He added as well that he is also open to include the person behind the giving of money to Calalo and to other personalities mentioned by the district engineer in the complaint.
