DPWH ENGINEER ARRESTED FOR ALLEGED BRIBE TRY ON BATANGAS YOUNG SOLON

POLICE arrested a district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Batangas for allegedly trying to bribe in the amount of P3.1 million Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste in exchange for not investigating suspected anomalous public works projects in the province.

A police report to Camp Crame on Monday identified the suspect as Abelardo Calalo, 51, and a resident of Bgy. San Roque, San Pablo City, Laguna.

Calalo was arrested in a sting in Bgy. Poblacion Zone 12 in Taal, Batangas on Aug. 22.

Calalo is the officer-in-charge of the DPWH Batangas 1st District Engineering Office .

Prior to the arrest, Rep. Leviste of the 1st district of Batangas reported to the local police an alleged attempted bribery by the accused.

A report to Police Regional Office-4A Regional Director Brig. Gen. Jack L. Wanky said that the accused offered the money to the young solon to dissuade him from investigating DPWH projects in the 1st district of Batangas.

Leviste earlier disclosed that his inspections in August uncovered flood control projects in his district that were poorly built, with structures collapsing under recent storms, even though they were constructed only in the last few years.

Among those inspected by Leviste were the projects along the Palico River, Binambang River, and Pansipit River in Batangas.

An entrapment operation resulted in the arrest of the suspect, who, in a television interview refused to issue a statement on the arrest and instead referred the matter to his lawyer.

Recovered during the sting were the P3,126,900 reportedly paid by the accused to the lawmaker, who is a son of Sen. Loren Legarda and former Batangas Gov. Antonio Leviste.

Batangas police director Col. Geovanny Emerick Sibalo said their policemen followed regulations and all the evidence was properly inventoried.

Calalo is now detained at the Taal jail facility.

The young lawmaker is scheduled to file formal corruption charges against the district engineer on Tuesday. 

Earlier, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has expressed anger over failed flood control projects in the country as he warned that people behind the multi-billion anomaly will be facing charges of economic sabotage and plunder.