Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste said on Wednesday that the arrest order issued against him by the Makati Regional Trial Court was a small matter to deal with, compared with difficulties other people are going through.
Leviste made the statement in a Facebook post following reports that the Makati Regional Trial Court had issued warrant for his arrest.
‘Salamat sa lahat ng sumusuporta. Huwag niyo akong alalahanin, maliit na bagay lang ito kumpara sa ibang nangyayari. Kayo ang inaalala ko,’ Leviste said.
(Thank you to all those who have supported me. Do not worry about me, this is a small matter compared to the other things happening. I am more concerned about you.)
Earlier, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confirmed that branch 235 of the Makati RTC had issued an arrest order against Leviste on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, over alleged violation of Section 25 of the Public Service Act.
Signed by Presiding Judge Ricardo Moldez II, the warrant set a bail at P72,000.
Section 25 of the Public Service Act, as amended by Republic Act No. 11659, states that any person ‘who shall knowingly and willfully neglect, fail, or omit to do or perform, or who shall knowingly and willfully cause’ a public service corporation or company to neglect, fail, or omit to do or perform its functions will be penalized.
Leviste has faced criticism over unfinished solar energy projects linked to his company, Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. He has rejected comparisons to so-called ghost projects, saying such a situation would arise only if the government had paid him and he failed to deliver.
The Department of Energy earlier said it had terminated 163 power projects over failure to meet agreed timelines. Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said 64 percent of the canceled projects were handled by Leviste’s company and that the projects carried a combined P24 billion penalty.
Garin said the canceled contracts under Leviste’s firm include 33 that were secured under the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP), as well as some agreements outside GEAP reached between 2014 and 2019.