When Leviste Called Dizon’s Bluff: Paper Cuts, Pork Barrels, and a Billion-Peso Game of Chicken

From “Approved by Dizon” to “I’ve Never Seen It”: A Masterclass in Selective Amnesia

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — January 1, 2026

BEHOLD a Shakespearean drama transplanted to the humid halls of Philippine power: ambition cloaked in infrastructure blueprints, betrayal whispered over budget spreadsheets, and a central witness who vanishes into a Benguet ravine just as the plot thickens.

This is the “Cabral Files” scandal — not a mere squabble over leaked documents, but a tragicomic farce where billions in public funds dance like ghosts through “allocables,” the key source falls silent forever, and our protagonists lawyer up faster than you can say “pork barrel.”

***’Tis the season to be jolly—unless you’re a taxpayer, in which case ’tis the season to be jolly… well, screwed.***

The Protagonists: Hero or Grandstander? Reformer or Dodger?

At center stage stands Rep. Leandro Leviste, the young Batangas lawmaker who burst onto the scene with the flair of a naive Hamlet, brandishing the “Cabral Files” on Facebook like a digital dagger — on Christmas Eve, no less. A festive timing that feels less like tidings of comfort and joy and more like political dynamite tossed into the holiday lechon.

Leviste casts himself as the brave whistleblower, claiming the late Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral handed him the files on September 4 with the blessing of DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon himself. He even devised a “test” for the department: authenticate quickly, or risk exposing lies. “If you’re telling the truth, you don’t need time to think,” he declared — a line dripping with youthful idealism… or perhaps performative grandstanding?

Yet the script flips. DPWH staff allege a less heroic scene: Leviste forcibly copying files onto a personal flash drive, even causing paper cuts in the scuffle. He denies it, insisting on proper authorization. But in a nation scarred by pork-barrel ghosts, dumping potentially explosive documents on social media feels reckless. Has our would-be transparency crusader overstepped ethics — or laws? An ethics complaint looms, and Malacañang rightly demands scrutiny of how he obtained them. Illegally acquired evidence, after all, is mere hearsay.

Opposite him is Secretary Vince Dizon, the besieged technocrat playing a modern Polonius — trapped in bureaucratic quicksand, promising reform while navigating palace knives. Dizon insists he never authorized release, never even saw the documents Leviste waves about. “How can I authenticate those?” he asks, with the weary precision of a man managing inconvenient truths.

Is he the genuine reformer Leviste once praised (alleging Dizon sincerely wanted transparency), now retreating under political pressure? Or a master of plausible deniability? His limbo — “I can’t confirm what I haven’t verified” — only thickens the fog of suspicion.

The Rot Beneath: Allocables and Ghosts

Beyond the personal duel lies the systemic decay: the charmingly named “allocables” system — a national banquet where lawmakers and officials carve up infrastructure budgets like so much roasted pig. These are not merit-based projects born of genuine need; they are insertions.

P410 billion in district allocations for 2025 alone.
Plus whispers of a shadowy “Leadership Fund” swelling to P320 billion atop that.

It’s the eternal Philippine cycle: flood-control budgets bloated with potential ghost projects, proponents unnamed or conveniently powerful, while actual roads crumble and rivers rage.

Leviste’s files, if authentic, map this feast district by district — naming lawmakers, senators (including, awkwardly, his own mother), and reportedly at least five Cabinet secretaries with billions in suspicious “non-allocables.”

And looming over it all, the ghastly specter of Undersecretary Cabral. She allegedly provided the files, perhaps poised to testify, only to plunge into a Benguet ravine on December 18, 2024. Authorities ruled probable suicide — blunt trauma, antidepressants, shoes neatly removed, no signs of foul play. Yet the timing casts a permanent gothic shadow. Conspiracy murmurs abound, though evidence points elsewhere. Her death leaves only disputed files… and a hard drive now in the Ombudsman’s hands.

The chain-of-custody farce adds slapstick: high drama over “forceful acquisition” and minor injuries — all for data copied onto a humble flash drive. What does this reveal about safeguarding billions in public treasure?

Rumors, Fallout, and the Wider Wound

The rumor mill is the scandal’s nervous system:

An alleged “agent” call to Leviste hinting at negotiation.
Files implicating five Cabinet secretaries and numerous senators.
Former Secretary Manuel Bonoan reportedly fleeing abroad as probes neared.
P13 billion in already-frozen assets.

If authenticated, this could ignite a full-blown constitutional crisis — executive versus legislature — stall vital infrastructure under endless suspicion, and deepen the weary public conviction that every bridge or dike is a potential ghost.

This is not just political theater; it is a profound moral failure, eroding faith while the poor wade through floods funded by phantom pesos.

A Call to End the Farce

Filipinos deserve better. With urgency and a necessary dose of cynical realism, we must demand:

A Digital Autopsy, Immediately
The Ombudsman must forensically examine Cabral’s hard drive and devices (already turned over). Let the bits and bytes speak — no more delays.
End the Authentication Charade
DPWH must confirm the files’ origins or prove them forgeries. Bureaucratic fog only shields the potentially guilty.
Convene a Truly Independent, Televised Inquest
A joint congressional probe, free of partisan jesters. Issue subpoenas to everyone — from Dizon to the staffer with paper cuts, from Leviste to unnamed proponents.
Treat This with Gravitas, Not Gimmickry
A public servant is dead; public trust over billions is stolen. This demands seriousness, not Facebook challenges.
Abolish the Allocables Theater
If the system is so easily abused and weaponized, burn the playbook. Build a new one rooted in transparent, merit-driven need — not political greed.

In a nation of resilient hope amid endless scandals, we cannot let another act end with the ghosts victorious. The curtain must fall on this farce — or the tragedy simply repeats.

Until the next national treasury gets looted in broad daylight, my countrymen,