Lawyer Tony La Viña, spokesperson for Sen. Loren Legarda, maintained that the complaints against her and her son, Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, have no leg to stand on, saying there is no truth to allegations that he had a monopoly of renewable energy service contracts and that he had unpaid penalties.
The Office of the Ombudsman is investigating a plunder and graft complaint against the mother and son in relation to the service contracts, while the Department of Energy has filed separate complaints against Leviste.
Leviste’s network of companies was allegedly awarded exclusive solar energy service contracts, many of which were never developed, with authorities alleging there were indications that there was no intention to fulfill these.
In a statement, La Viña said the claim that Leviste had a monopoly was a “falsehood.”
He also said Leviste could not be faulted for not fulfilling some of his service contracts.
“Besides not performing a service contract is normal since it’s essentially a permit to explore. No public funds were used,” he said.
He also said Leviste had carried out some projects, which is why it is malicious to claim that he did not do anything.
He said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inaugurated the 3,500 MW Terra Solar project in Nueva Ecija that Leviste originally implemented.
He also said Leviste had developed other service contracts, some of which he sold to bigger companies because they had been successful.
“That is normal business practice, not flip flopping ownership as has been alleged,” he said.
La Viña said there were no P24 billion and P10 billion penalties on Leviste’s company, saying the contract referred to in the complaint against him was owned by a company controlled by another group.
Leviste has no unpaid penalties, he said.
“The penalties of the other service contract they said Leviste didn’t pay, he paid with receipts. Either Ombudsman is unaware or is maliciously prosecuting him knowing it’s wrong information,” he said.
He also alleged that renewable energy investors could be driven away by the filing of a complaint against Leviste, as they would fear facing a non-bailable case even if they did nothing wrong.
As for Legarda, he insisted that there is nothing to implicate her.
The Office of the Ombudsman earlier said she was included in the probe because of allegations that she used her influence to help her son secure a solar franchise.
But La Viña said the solar franchise was unanimously approved in the Senate and by a huge majority in the House.
“Only the President can influence votes on franchises, as we have seen in the ABS-CBN case,” he said.
He also said the Office of the Ombudsman has not included the franchise in the allegations against Legarda and Leviste.
“As far as we know, the investigation on this matter has been closed,” he said.