MANILA — Batangas 1st District’s Cong. Leandro Legarda Leviste has accused a party-list lawmaker of “pre-ordering” billions of pesos’ worth of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects months before the 2025 national budget was approved — an allegation he says points to a “systemic blueprint” for bid manipulation within the agency.
Leviste said documents dated August 30, 2024 — purportedly originating from the office of then–DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral — contained a list of infrastructure projects allegedly reserved for companies linked to CWS party-list representative Edwin Gardiola.
According to Leviste, the list showed contracts lined up in his own district, including P514.25 million worth of road works in Tuy, Batangas, awarded to Readycon Trading and Construction Corporation, and P280 million in road projects in Calatagan, awarded to S-Ang Construction & General Trading, Inc.
Leviste said S-Ang “is owned by members of Gardiola’s family,” while Readycon is not, but claimed that the Tuy project “was proposed by Gardiola and implemented for his benefit,” citing information from DPWH officials.
He said the documents could help the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) and the Office of the Ombudsman determine possible “bid manipulation” within the DPWH.
Leviste added that research by his office showed that companies linked to the Gardiola family had secured an estimated P42 billion in DPWH contracts from 2001 to 2025, and that about one-third of infrastructure projects in Batangas’ 1st District had been awarded to firms whose officials were “reportedly members of Gardiola’s family.”
Investigators from the ICI visited Leviste’s office at the House of Representatives on Wednesday to examine the documents as part of their ongoing probe./PN
