Batangas Representative Leandro Legarda Leviste maintained that the ₱100 million campaign donation he gave to his mother, Senator Loren Legarda, during the 2022 national elections was not intended to gain influence or political favor.
In a televised interview, Leviste — founder and former CEO of Solar Philippines — clarified that the contribution was made purely out of support for his mother’s advocacies, which he also believes in.
“I gave that to help my mom and not as a businessman trying to win support from a politician. Because I don’t think I need to donate to my mom to convince her to do anything,” he explained.
“I don’t need to make palakas to her by donating to her. I donate to her because I believe in what she’s doing,” he added.
Leviste made the statement in response to a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), which listed him among the major campaign donors in the 2022 elections — raising questions about potential conflict of interest.
According to Leviste, he believes the PCIJ report did not intend to equate his donation with those from government contractors.
“I think that report was a list of other members of Congress and Senate who received donations from contractors and maybe, I was just on that list that they were just putting it there for completeness. But I don’t think the intention is for them to say that a son donating to a parent is analogous to a contractor donating to a politician,” he said.
Leviste also emphasized the need to scrutinize not only public officials receiving donations from contractors but also politicians being funded by large private businesses, noting that transparency and fairness must apply to all campaign financing sources.