ASEANEWS HEADLINE | MANILA: Batangas DPWH engineer nabbed for bribe attempt
Photo shows DPWH Batangas 1st district engineer Abelardo Calalo in the custody of the Batangas police after he allegedly offered P3.1 million in cash to stop Rep. Leandro Leviste from investigating flood control projects in his district last Friday./ PNP photo
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DPWH district engineer arrested for allegedly trying to bribe Batangas solon | ANC
The World Tonight: A Batangas public works official is arrested for allegedly attempting to bribe a congressman and dissuade him from investigating anomalies in his district’s flood control projects. A senator suspects a well-connected contractor may have supplied the bribe money.
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BATANGAS CITY, Philippines — Following recent revelations on anomalous flood control projects, police arrested a district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Friday night in Taal town in Batangas on charges of attempting to bribe a congressman.
The 51-year-old suspect, identified as DPWH Batangas 1st district engineerAbelardo Dionglay Calalo, allegedly tried to pay off Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste with P3,126,900 in cash in order to abandon any flood control probe in the district.
The cash, placed in a green ecobag, was recovered during the operation.
“We should not tolerate any corruption in Department of Public Works and Highways. We should demand projects at better quality and lower cost, and obligate contractors to correct any deficiencies immediately without additional cost to government,” Leviste said in a statement.
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“Beyond this case, we will push for broader reforms to address systemic problems of DPWH,” Leviste, son of Sen. Loren Legarda, added.
Batangas police chief Col. Geovanny Emerick Sibalo said authorities received information from Leviste’s staff about the supposed bribery attempt. Sibalo said police officers caught Calalo “in the act” of attempting to hand over the money.
“This was not a planned entrapment. Based on reliable information, our personnel responded and caught the suspect in possession of the cash,” Sibalo told radio dzBB yesterday.
Calalo, a native of Balayan town in the province, is currently under the custody of the Taal Municipal Police Station. Criminal charges are expected to be filed today at the Batangas Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, where he will be facing charges of trying to bribe a government official under Article 212 of the Revised Penal Code and for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law (Republic Act 3019).
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On Aug. 18, Leviste made the rounds in his district together with local officials and DPWH engineers to inspect projects that were damaged by recent typhoons in the towns of Nasugbu, Lian, Tuy, Balayan, Calaca and Lemery.
Leviste has shared an update on ongoing assessments of flood control projects in several rivers, including Palico, Binambang and Pansipit, which sustained damage during recent typhoons.
Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson commended Leviste for the arrest.
“My snappy salute to neophyte Cong. Leandro Leviste, Batangas first district, for the successful police entrapment operation against a corrupt DPWH district engineer who tried to bribe him up to P360 M in kickbacks from infra projects in his district. May his tribe increase,” he posted on his X account.
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In a statement issued by Randy del Rosario, DPWH Stakeholder Relations Service director yesterday morning, the agency said it was “deeply concerned” and was taking the matter “very seriously.”
“As public servants, we at the Department of Public Works and Highways do not condone any form of misconduct,” it said.
“We fully support the ongoing investigation by the proper authorities and stand firm in our commitment to transparency and integrity in public service,” the DPWH noted. “The individual involved will be relieved of his assignment, and preventive suspension will be implemented.”
“We firmly believe that those found to have engaged in any wrongdoing must face the full consequences of their actions in accordance with the law,” it added.
Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, who was interviewed after the arrest, said Calalo deserved his fate.
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“District engineers with that kind of behavior deserve it. I really won’t have a second thought that they deserve it when things like that happened. Leave it alone. If he is the one who planned such things, then it’s over. That’s really it. There’s no need to visit him,” Bonoan told radio dzBB. — Mark Ernest Villeza, Rainier Allan Ronda, Ed Amoroso
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