MANILA, Philippines — The verbal tussle between Executive Secretary Ralph Recto and Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste continues as the former unloaded one accusation after another against the neophyte lawmaker.
In a lengthy social media post, Recto noted how, amid the problems the country is facing, he wanted to hold back from reacting to Leviste’s claim but felt compelled to speak up to debunk his so-called lies.
“But you can only fight a natural born liar with truth. And in relentless baseless slander, there is also a limit to restraint,” he said in English and Filipino.
Recto alleged that Leviste had offered P400 million during an initial meeting to help persuade a political rival to withdraw from the election race, followed by a separate offer of up to P1 billion for his wife, Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto to give way to him.
The Palace official said he rejected this as this is wrong and “insulting”. What prevented him from exposing Leviste was his respect for his mother and former colleague in the upper house, Senator Loren Legarda.
“His mother knows that I didn't like this conversation, so please apologize to me. In his twisted mind, everything is for sale: people, honor, position,” Recto said, and also claimed that Leviste had a massive vote-buying spree which propelled him to victory in last year’s polls.
Apart from the alleged bribery, Leviste is also said to be the mastermind behind a campaign to discredit him.
“He is reportedly giving away money to discredit me because of his lust for power and attention. He is also reportedly running AI operations, using a factory of lies, and running troll farms, and doing crowd business – to discredit members of the Cabinet and the administration,” Recto said.
Leviste’s public tirades against him, Recto asserted, is a ploy to divert the public’s attention from the P24 billion he owes the government for failed and undelivered solar power projects.
“This is a bitter brat. Prone to tantrums, even badmouthing the woman who gave birth to him in front of many people. In my thirty years of service, I have only now encountered someone like this—more savage, more cunning, more deceitful, and more willing to set aside the truth for personal gain,” Recto said.
He is a deranged and dangerous person who will even skin his loved ones, and use their skin to drumbeat his empty achievements to feed his narcissism. He is the leading national inventor of lies, and in a desperate move to escape accountability, is resorting to lies to divert the issue from his misdeeds,” he added.
