Philippine Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Lawmaker Leandro Leviste Over Solar Project

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) A Philippine court ordered the arrest of one of the country's youngest and richest legislators over alleged failures to put up solar energy farms in accordance with a congressional franchise awarded in 2019.

Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 235 issued a warrant of arrest against Batangas 1st District representative Leandro Leviste on Monday, October 5, for allegedly violating Philippine Public Service Act (PSA). The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confirmed the arrest warrant on Wednesday.

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Leviste, however, is in Europe in an extended and unexplained absence from his duties as a member of the Philippine House of Representatives.

Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. What is Leviste accused of?

Leviste is the founder of the Solar Para sa Bayan (Solar for the People) Corporation, which was granted a 25-year franchise to construct, install, establish, operate, and maintain solar-powered generation facilities and mini-grid systems in the Philippines. His company promised to supply affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity to underserved areas in the Philippines.

The company, however, failed to deliver, resulting in cancelled service contracts and billions of pesos in government penalties, the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) reported.

Leviste, however, succeeded in raising more capital by going public with a derivative company, the Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp., which was valued at P60.9 billion (Dh3.57 billion) at the time of its initial public offering in December 2021.

He subsequently divested large blocks of shares to Meralco PowerGen Corporation (MGen) and other investors, earning over P34 billion (Dh2 billion) in the process.

Government regulators said Leviste violated his congressional franchise by not seeking permission before selling parts of his operations to other entities. Leviste's firm was subsequently slapped with a P24 billion fine.

Who is Leviste?

The 33-year-old first-term legislator is a son of incumbent senator Loren Legarda and former Batangas provincial governor Antonio Leviste.

The younger Leviste came into national political consciousness when he publicly criticised former allies of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte who jumped ship and allied themselves with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr after the Marcos-Duterte fallout in 2024.

Leviste's troubles escalated when Marcos' executive secretary Ralph Recto publicly accused him of attempting to offer large-scale payoffs (allegedly ranging from P400 million to P1 billion) to influence political outcomes in Batangas. Recto, himself from Batangas Province, is a political rival of the Levistes.

Leviste left the Philippines in August, purportedly to accompany his mother in seeking medical treatment abroad. Legarda's medical leave with the Philippine Senate had been extended six times.

Does Leviste deserve arrest?

Leviste's lawyer Antonio La Viña said Leviste's arrest warrant was based on“a complaint looking for a crime.”

In an interview, La Viña said Leviste did not implement the franchise because the DOE did not issue the necessary rules and regulations. The agency did not identify the places where the franchise could be implemented.

“[Y]ou cannot invoke a general penal clause of a law without identifying specific provisions in the law which an accused has committed. In other words, 'no harm, no foul,'” the lawyer added.

Leviste belittled the arrest order, saying it is“a small matter compared to the other things happening.”

Centre of crisis

As two of the rapidly dwindling Duterte allies in the Philippine legislature, the mother-son's legal troubles are only expected to worsen.

On Sunday, ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla announced the impending filing of about 20 graft and corruption charges against Leviste and Legarda.

Legarda is a member of the Senate minority allied with Vice President Sara Duterte, who is undergoing an impeachment trial. Two of her colleagues are in jail for plunder, while another is in hiding from an International Criminal Court arrest order.

In a heated debate two weeks ago, the Senate decided that only those who are physically present during the trial promulgation may vote whether to absolve or to oust the Philippine vice president from office.

Duterte's public threats to have Marcos assassinated and the ongoing trial to oust the vice president have been described as constituting one of the worst political crises in the Philippines in the century.

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