FACT CHECK: Social media card of Leviste tagging Paolo Duterte in flood control mess is fake

Claim: Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Leviste named Davao City 1st District Representative Paolo Duterte as among the “big fish” involved in the flood control project anomalies, as seen in an ABS-CBN News social media card.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: As of writing, the video containing the social media graphic has garnered 352,600 views, 2,257 likes, and 947 comments. The video was posted on TikTok by Insider PH, an account that has repeatedly published false claims using the ABS-CBN name and logo. The supposed news card has circulated on other platforms, including on a Facebook post by Mark Carlo Tanaya and on posts by multiple accounts on Instagram.

The quote card reads, “Rep. Leviste napaluha sa kanyang press release at sinabing isa si Paolo Duterte sa mga ‘Big Fish’ ng flood control anomaly.” 

(Rep. Leviste teared up in his press release and said that Paolo Duterte is one of the “big fish” in the flood control anomaly.)

The image features photos of Leviste and Duterte, alongside the ABS-CBN News logo and branding.

The facts: There is no ABS-CBN News social media card or article in which Leviste identified Duterte as a key figure in the flood control project scandal. The post merely uses the ABS-CBN logo, name, and visual style to mislead social media users into believing that the graphic was published by the news organization. 

Leviste’s photo in the quote card likely came from his December 29, 2025, interview with Ted Failon and DJ Chacha on True FM. In this interview, the Batangas lawmaker discussed the contents of the so-called “Cabral files,” a set of documents purportedly originating from the late Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Catalina Cabral, that shows the list of DPWH funding to congressional districts from 2023 to 2025.

The ABS-CBN News Channel also interviewed Leviste in December 2025 about these files and how he obtained them, but neither interview mentioned Duterte.

Flood control anomalies: Revelations of alleged corruption in infrastructure projects — involving irregular fund allocations, ghost projects, and kickbacks — have prompted greater scrutiny of the public works department. (READ: Flood control corruption: How much money has been recovered so far?)

Following Cabral’s death in December 2025, Leviste called for transparency in the DPWH budget after revealing supposed budget insertions and irregularities in the government’s flood control projects.

Leviste has implicated Construction Workers Solidarity Party-list Representative Edwin Gardiola in the flood control controversy, releasing documents purportedly showing some P22 billion worth of DPWH projects that Gardiola allegedly “pre-ordered” for select contractors linked to him. Leviste also alleged that DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon was involved in budget insertions, claims that Dizon dismissed as baseless. (WATCH: Inside Gardiola’s buy-and-sell DPWH project modus in Congress)

Link to Duterte: While the supposed ABS-CBN social media card citing Leviste is fake, Duterte has been named in the flood control issue.

In September 2025, during a House probe into ghost projects and contractors, Cabral confirmed that the Davao City representative’s district received P51 billion worth of infrastructure projects during the term of his father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, from 2020 to 2022. 

In response, Duterte questioned the “sudden shift” of the House probe and maintained that there was “nothing to hide.” – Samantha Uy/Rappler.com

Samantha Ysabel Uy is a Rappler volunteer. She is a third-year Broadcast Media Arts and Studies student at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

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