FOLLOWING ALLEGATIONS DRAGGING several Cabinet secretaries into the so-called budget insertions for infrastructure projects, Malacanang took a swipe at a neophyte congressman for allegedly releasing information based on hearsays.
Lawyer Claire Castro in her capacity as Palace Press Officer, particularly hinted at the sweeping accusations made by Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste — that some Cabinet secretaries were among the proponents of the multibillion-peso budget insertions for infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
DEAD AS SOURCE
Castro issued the statement after Leviste claimed that late DPWH undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral gave him documents on Sept. 4 containing the names of high-ranking officials.
The list, Leviste claimed, included Cabinet secretaries acting as proponents in the agency’s budget insertions.
“The Palace will only respond to documents authenticated by the DPWH,” Castro said in a statement. “Other than these, they will all be considered hearsay or tsismis, which have no probative value.”
Interestingly, Leviste made the claim only after Cabral’s death.
DEAD CAN’T TALK
In a Facebook post, Leviste said the files were shown to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) on Nov. 18 and 19, and to the Office of the Ombudsman on Nov. 26.
He added that the file contained provision on a staggering P401.3-billion “allocable” or the budget allocated to DPWH projects for selected congressional districts.
The whopping amount of the so-called “allocable” further increased to P1.041 trillion because of the “outside allocable.”
“The release of the files would have wide-ranging consequences,” Leviste said. “They list proponents of flood control and other DPWH projects from the whole government.” To avoid compromising his legislative work, “I would prefer that DPWH be the one to decide on releasing these files to the public,” he quipped.
