By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
I want to think young Congressman Leandro Leviste is straight as an arrow, and in the habit of putting himself out there in the naked light of social media to bare uncomfortable truths for the public good. He has certainly cast himself that way: emotional, candid, almost confessional, while narrating alleged attempts to buy his silence.
Leviste recently claimed that he was offered billions of pesos in additional classroom funding for his district in exchange for keeping quiet about questionable Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget documents. He said he withheld the papers for months due to pressure from a DPWH official, later breaking down as he expressed regret that former undersecretary Catalina Cabral was not made a state witness to expose the flood-control scandal. The performance was compelling. The framing was careful.
Then came a complication. DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon disclosed that Cabral herself had earlier told him that it was Leviste who demanded access to the files as early as September, and insisted they be saved onto his own flash drive. Leviste fired back, flatly accusing Dizon of lying, and warning that if attacked, he would expose what he holds — the so-called “Cabral files.”
This is where transparency blurs into brinkmanship. What began as a whistleblower’s tale now resembles a standoff of narratives, each wielding documents as a form of leverage. The public is left to wonder: were these files suppressed out of fear, or preserved as insurance? Was the timing driven by conscience — or by proficient political calculation?
That question is not trivial, especially given Leviste’s history. His wealth did not come from open-market competition or an enterprise built from the ground up. It came through legislation — via a solar franchise of extraordinary scope, later sold early and lucratively. Political capital, some say, was drawn directly from his senator-mom, who converted clean energy interests into private wealth.
That context matters because it reveals a pattern: mastery not of industry, but of access, regulation, and narrative. Today, Leviste grandstands as a reformer, speaking the language of ethics and accountability. Yet his principal successes — past and present — are deeply entwined with the state (and his mom).
And if more history were to speak, Leviste’s fits of outrage against corruption have been nothing short of selective. For example, while quick to brand the P3 million found on DPWH engineer Abelardo Calalo as a bribe a few months back, he fell silent when Calalo countered that the money was a “donation” allegedly demanded by Rep. Jojo Ang to support Leviste’s district projects.
He publicly named former Rep. Eric Buhain as a supposed kickback recipient, a claim Calalo flatly denied, then demanded from Calalo the names of contractors he could have independently verified from public records. Buhain is, of course, a political foe Leviste would best serve cold before their constituents.
However, Leviste declined conspicuously to address Calalo’s claims involving Ang and his own mother, Sen. Loren Legarda — perhaps, because he was drawing a line where scrutiny would cut too close.
This is not to dismiss his overall claims against corruption outright. It is only to insist on more scrutiny – even on himself. Transparency is not measured by emotion or exposure alone – as he is an expert in winning the views and clicks on social media — but by consistency, motive, and method.
Before we take every revelation from this young solon bait, hook, and sinker, we should ask whether this is reform or reputation management conducted in plain sight.
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