NAGHAIN si Batangas Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste nitong Lunes ng reply affidavit laban kay dating Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Batangas 1st District Engineer Abelardo Calalo, kalakip ang supplemental complaint-affidavit laban sa mag-asawang Noche at isang motion to implead and for the issuance of subpoena sa Office of the Provincial Prosecutor ng Batangas.

Kasama sa mga isinampang dokumento ang mga karagdagang kaso laban kay Calalo at isinama na rin ang mga may-ari ng TopTech Trading & Construction Co. Inc., ang kontratista ng mga proyekto ng DPWH na nakalista sa papel na kalakip ng dalang pera ni Calalo.

Sinabi ni Leviste: “What Engineer Calalo referred to as a ‘donation’ included a piece of paper that said the P3,126,900.00 cash was 3% of the P104,230,000.00 price of 3 contracts awarded by DPWH to TopTech Trading & Construction Co. Inc. This company is owned by Elrey Jose C. Noche and Marciana M. Noche, whom I have asked the Prosecutor to implead as additional respondents and to issue subpoenas requiring them to appear and submit their counter-affidavits.”

“I also mentioned in my affidavits that Engineer Calalo and I discussed the names of other contractors in Batangas who offered to give me up to 5 to 10% from a total of P3.6 billion of projects, whom Engineer Calalo avoided naming in his affidavit, including another contractor whom he said was ready to give P15 million the next day,” sinabi ni Leviste.

“There seem to be vested interests who want to cover up the system of kickbacks for DPWH projects in Batangas, and the bag that Engineer Calalo brought with him on August 22 is just the tip of the iceberg. I believe that it is part of my job to pursue these cases, and that we should not legalize contractors giving so-called ‘donations’ representing percentages of DPWH contract prices,” dagdag pa ni Leviste.