NBI: Leviste ‘a fugitive’ in case vs solar firm

MANILA, Philippines — Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste remains at large following the issuance of an arrest warrant against him for alleged violation of the Public Service Act (PSA) involving his multibillion-peso solar firm, National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag said on Wednesday.

Matibag made the statement about an hour after he first announced that Leviste has posted the P72,000 bail by sending a “representative” to court.

“There was wrong information that he posted bail,” Matibag told reporters in an interview.

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According to the NBI chief, only Leviste’s two coaccused—Solar Para Sa Bayan Corp. (SPBC) officials Hazel Iris Lafuente Buencamino and Irma Flaminiano—had posted bail at the Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC).

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Matibag said Leviste, who is reportedly in France with his mother, Sen. Loren Legarda, after they left the country on separate flights on Aug. 2, is now considered a “fugitive from justice.”

“Because the court is looking for [him], there’s an arrest warrant issued for him,” he said.

“Leviste is still considered at large. The court does not have jurisdiction over him until such time that he voluntarily surrenders or is arrested by law enforcement,” Matibag added.

The court has set the arraignment for Leviste’s coaccused on Oct. 26.

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At the Department of Justice (DOJ), Secretary Fredderick Vida said Leviste must come home and surrender himself to authorities if he intends to post bail, and not do it through the embassy or a legal representative.

“When there is an arrest warrant, we must respect and honor the authority of the court. So, my appeal—not just for him, but especially for him—is that since there is an arrest warrant, we must comply with the court’s order,” Vida said.

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Branch 235 of Makati RTC ordered the arrest of Leviste for alleged violation of Section 25 of Commonwealth Act No. 146, or the PSA, as amended by Republic Act No. 11659.

The warrant, dated Oct. 5, stemmed from the complaint filed by the DOJ on Sept. 29 against Leviste, Buencamino and Flaminiano over alleged irregularities in the legislative franchises of SPBC’s solar power projects.

Grounds for cancellation

“The filing of the information stemmed from a finding of prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction that SPBC willfully neglected and intentionally failed to comply with its obligations under its legislative franchise,” said DOJ spokesperson Polo Martinez, in a Viber message to reporters.

Under the law, individuals who “cause any public service corporation or company to neglect, fail, or omit to do or perform” their contractual obligations may face a fine of up to P2 million and/or a jail term of at least six years to a maximum 12 years.

Matibag said the NBI is coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs for the possibility of canceling Leviste’s passport and the House of Representatives for canceling his travel authority.

Martinez, however, said Leviste has not yet been convicted of a crime or declared a fugitive from justice by the court.

These, he said, are among the grounds for the cancellation of a passport under Republic Act No. 11983, or the new Philippine Passport Act.

“Neither circumstance is present at this time,” Martinez said. “At this stage, it is still too early to say whether any action will be taken with respect to his passport.”

‘Just a small matter’

Following the announcement about the arrest warrant, Leviste addressed his supporters on social media.

“Thank you to everyone showing support. Don’t worry about me; this is a small matter compared to other things happening. It is you I am concerned about,” Leviste wrote in Filipino.

Bureau of Immigration spokesperson Anisha Hassan confirmed to the Inquirer that Leviste remained out of the country.

Legarda’s spokesperson, Tony La Viña, recently said Leviste was taking care of his mother who was on medical leave and undergoing treatment for a lung and autoimmune condition in France.

La Viña also called the case against Leviste as a “complaint looking for a crime.”

“The Solar ng Bayan franchise is not a public utility covered by the PSA. Leviste and his companies cannot be charged for a crime under a law which does not apply to them,” he said earlier in a Facebook post.

In May, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin filed a complaint against SPBC before the DOJ, alleging that the company, through its board of directors and corporate officers, had “neglected [and] failed” in its commitment to provide reliable power for target households under its legislative franchise.

“When the legislative franchise was granted in 2019, SPBC had no single project or operation to speak of,” according to the complaint.

“Worse, during these years, SPBC continuously established and provided renewable energy for profit through several groups of companies under the umbrella of Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. (SPPPHI), a corporation that is 100-percent owned by Leviste,” it added.

In January, the Department of Energy (DOE) imposed a P24-billion penalty on SPPPHI for failing to produce power it committed to deliver under more than 30 service contracts with the government.

Garin said the DOE had terminated 163 projects awarded to various companies for their failure to follow the timeline agreed upon for power production. More than half of those projects, or 64 percent, were handled by SPPPHI.

She said the canceled contracts included 33 that were secured under the Green Energy Auction Program (Geap), as well as some agreements outside Geap reached between 2014 and 2019.

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Geap is a government initiative to accelerate the development of renewable energy sources, mainly to help the Marcos administration meet its target to increase the share of renewables in the power generation pie from the current 22 percent to 35 percent by 2030. —With reports from Gabriel Pabico Lalu and Inquirer Research