MANILA, Philippines – Sinabi ni Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Leviste nitong Sabado, Oktubre 18 na mas marami pang mga opisyal ng Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) ang may kaugnayan sa mga kontratista.
Nag-isyu ng pahayag si Leviste kasunod ng pagbibitiw sa pwesto ni DPWH Undersecretary Arrey Perez matapos na akusahan ito ng mambabatas na may koneksyon sa mga contractor.
Pinuna naman ni Perez ang “malicious insinuations” tungkol sa kanya kahit pa sinabi ni DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon na patuloy pang iniimbestigahan ang isyu.
“People have asked if it’s true that I denied that Usec. Perez has links with contractors—I did not. What I said was: There are more members of Secretary Dizon’s team linked to contractors, and one in particular was photographed with contractors in a recent meeting in a restaurant. This one photographed was another member of Secretary Dizon’s team,” pahayag ni Leviste.
Wala pang tugon si Dizon kaugnay nito.
Samantala, hiniling ni Leviste kay Dizon na ilabas ang lahat ng mga ugnayan at meeting ng bawat opisyal ng DPWH sa mga contractor, at “how we will ensure they do not get kickbacks.”
Hinimok din ni Leviste ang paglalabas ng DPWH budget sa kada legislative district, “as committed in the September 17 budget hearing, and the list of proponents, as requested by others and readily available” maging ang “lower prices by 25%.”
“I only named Usec. Perez after Secretary Dizon asked me to give an example. My press briefing was to follow up on Secretary Dizon to lower the prices of DPWH projects and release information on the data per district in the 2026 budget, and I hope that Secretary Dizon can address this, because it is in changing the budget and not just the team that we can show that we are doing all that we can to end kickbacks in DPWH,” ayon kay Leviste.
“Given how many DPWH officials are connected with contractors, let us release the list of projects and remove all insertions by contractors in the DPWH budget,” dagdag nito.
Nangako naman si Dizon noong Huwebes na agad niyang aalisin sa pwesto at sasampahan pa ng reklamo ang sinumang opisyal ng DPWH na mapatutunayang may kaugnayan sa mga contractor. RNT/JGC
