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Advocates Philippines
Leviste Flags P161B DPWH Projects With 'Cabral Files' Tags
Photo credit: Leandro Leviste
Questions are mounting over the proposed 2025 national budget after Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Legarda Leviste revealed what he described as unusual tags attached to billions of pesos worth of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects.
Leviste said documents linked to the so-called “Cabral Files” show at least ₱161 billion worth of DPWH projects carrying labels such as OP (ES/SAP), F1, BINI10, OT 2, LEADERSHIP, and CENTI2025. The documents, he added, also list contractors associated with the tagged projects slated for implementation in 2025.
According to Leviste, the scale of the allocations suggests these were not routine budget entries typically associated with ordinary project proposals. He is calling on the DPWH to clarify what the tags represent, who authorized them, and how the projects were included in the agency’s proposed budget.
He stressed that the entries refer to actual, on-the-ground projects rather than fictitious listings. Citing the 2025 National Expenditure Program, Leviste pointed to more than ₱1.5 billion in “allocable” funds in his district that he said remain unidentified. He also cited several road projects allegedly linked to specific political figures and contractors, as well as streetlight projects costing more than ₱230,000 per unit—among the most expensive in his district.
Leviste said the central issue is transparency, particularly in determining who benefited from the projects and whether their costs were properly justified.
He presented his findings during a recent Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the Cabral Files. During the proceedings, DPWH Undersecretary Rico Bernabe and former DPWH Secretary Manny Bonoan acknowledged the summary earlier shared by Leviste, though questions remain regarding the full authentication and interpretation of the documents.
With the issue now part of the Senate record, Leviste is urging the DPWH to publicly explain the meaning of the project tags and disclose the decision-making process behind the multibillion-peso allocations, as scrutiny over government infrastructure spending continues to intensify.
Leviste said documents linked to the so-called “Cabral Files” show at least ₱161 billion worth of DPWH projects carrying labels such as OP (ES/SAP), F1, BINI10, OT 2, LEADERSHIP, and CENTI2025. The documents, he added, also list contractors associated with the tagged projects slated for implementation in 2025.
According to Leviste, the scale of the allocations suggests these were not routine budget entries typically associated with ordinary project proposals. He is calling on the DPWH to clarify what the tags represent, who authorized them, and how the projects were included in the agency’s proposed budget.
He stressed that the entries refer to actual, on-the-ground projects rather than fictitious listings. Citing the 2025 National Expenditure Program, Leviste pointed to more than ₱1.5 billion in “allocable” funds in his district that he said remain unidentified. He also cited several road projects allegedly linked to specific political figures and contractors, as well as streetlight projects costing more than ₱230,000 per unit—among the most expensive in his district.
Leviste said the central issue is transparency, particularly in determining who benefited from the projects and whether their costs were properly justified.
He presented his findings during a recent Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the Cabral Files. During the proceedings, DPWH Undersecretary Rico Bernabe and former DPWH Secretary Manny Bonoan acknowledged the summary earlier shared by Leviste, though questions remain regarding the full authentication and interpretation of the documents.
With the issue now part of the Senate record, Leviste is urging the DPWH to publicly explain the meaning of the project tags and disclose the decision-making process behind the multibillion-peso allocations, as scrutiny over government infrastructure spending continues to intensify.
Jan 20, 2026
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