00:00A congressman has filed a complaint after an alleged bribery attempt exposed deeper regularities in public works projects.
00:07He warns that kickbacks may run into the billions, urging stronger action against systemic corruption.
00:13Bel Custodio reports.
00:17Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Legarda Leviste has formally filed a complaint
00:22against Department of Public Works and Highways Batangas 1st District Engineer Abelardo Calalo
00:27before the Batangas Provincial Prosecutor's Office.
00:30This follows District Engineer Calalo's alleged attempt to bribe Representative Leviste in connection with flood control projects.
00:38The lawmaker filed charges against Calalo for violation of the Anti-Graft and Prep Practices Act
00:43and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials.
00:47Calalo was arrested on Friday after an attempted bribery amounting to more than 3 million pesos placed inside an echo bag.
00:55Ito po ay inabot ni DE at nakita po ng PNP sa isang support na may kasamang resibo
01:07ng tatlong mga proyekto na nakakahalaga ng 104 million pesos, 3% of which is 3.1M.
01:17Kaya mga ibang nagtatulong bakit yun yung numero may butal pa.
01:20Dahil yun po ay kinumpiut talaga bilang initial na SOP para sa tatlong proyekto.
01:27At meron pang isang contractor na sinabi sa akin ni DE,
01:31ready na mag-withdraw ng 15 million pesos cash.
01:37Kung nag-okay po ako, baka kinabukasan, pwede niyang ipadala na sana.
01:42At mag-gather sana pa si DE ng funds mula sa iba't iba pang mga contractors.
01:55Ang sinabi po niya ay marami na siyang mga contractors na nakausap, na ready na magbigay.
02:02In Levice's sworn statement, he mentioned that contractors from Batanga's 1st District invited him
02:08and said they would give him 180 to 360 million pesos as support for their lawmakers' education programs.
02:15Hindi lang po ito tungkol sa mahigit 3 million pesos na suhol,
02:23kung hindi tungkol sa umaabot na mahigit 300 million pesos kada taon na SOP
02:32o Standard Operating Procedure o Kickbacks mula sa mga proyekto ng DPWH
02:40na nakalaan umano para sa congressman ng unang distrito ng Batangas taon-taon.
02:48Levice has said that kickbacks from DPWH projects in 34 Batangas 1st District
02:53could reach up to 1 billion pesos in the past 3 years.
02:56According to him, there is still no genuine bidding process in DPWH projects in Batangas
03:02since the involved solans are the ones selecting the contractors to whom SOPs are given.
03:07To recall, the representative inspected the Binambang Riverbank Protection Project in Balayan, Batangas,
03:14one of the DPWH projects in the district suspected for irregularities.
03:19The project had just been completed, yet it was already in the state of disrepair.
03:24It was also discovered that the sheet pads used in the P338 million pesos flood control project were undersized.
03:31Levice expressed hope that following President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s directive
03:35to investigate alleged anomalous fraud control projects,
03:39corruption in DPWH project will finally be eradicated.
03:43Levice offered Calalo the chance to become a state witness,
03:46to expose other anomalies in the project, but there was been no response yet from his camp.
03:51According to Batangas Police, Calalo will remain in the Batangas Municipal Police Station for now.
03:57Velco Stodio for the National TV Network for a new and better Philippines.
