Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Legarda Leviste clarified on Saturday, October 18 that former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Arrey Perez was not the only appointee of Secretary Vince Dizon reportedly linked to contractors.
Perez resigned on Friday, October 17 after Leviste suggested that a background check be done on him and questioned his fitness to oversee the bidding of projects at DPWH.
‘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,’ Leviste said.
In recent interviews, Dizon has confirmed that members of his team have had meetings with contractors outside the DPWH office, but said: ‘It is not disallowed, pero siyempre. ‘It seems a bit improper, right? But it’s not illegal. But it would have been better if it was done in the office. What’s important here is that they’re talking for work, that’s what matters, and not because they’re asking each other for favors or giving something to each other.’
Leviste responded to Dizon: ‘While I am thankful for what Secretary Dizon has already done, I also hope he will respond to these 3 points that I’ve been raising: (1) Disclose each DPWH official’s connections and meetings with contractors, and how we will ensure they do not get kickbacks; (2) Release the DPWH budget per legislative district (NEP and GAB), as committed in the September 17 budget hearing, and list of proponents, as requested by others and are readily available; and (3) Lower prices by 25%.’
In response to a question about a phone call reportedly from DPWH during Leviste’s press briefing on Thursday, October 16, Dizon confirmed that he had a member of his team call Leviste during his press conference. ‘I called our mutual friend so I could hopefully find out the details. I want to know who,’ Dizon said.
‘I did not ask for the resignation of any DPWH official, 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,’ Leviste said.
Leviste ended by appealing to Dizon: ‘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.’