Two members of Congress named in pending corruption complaints over solar energy deals were already outside the Philippines by the time immigration authorities addressed the matter publicly, the Bureau of Immigration said Friday, August 7, 2026.
Senator Loren Legarda and her son, Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Leviste, boarded separate flights out of the country on August 2, according to immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval. Neither carried any legal impediment to leaving at the time, she said: “Both had no derogatory records at the time of departure.”
The pair are the subject of graft and plunder complaints centered on Leviste’s renewable energy ventures. The Office of the Ombudsman disclosed on July 31 that the case had advanced to preliminary investigation — the step immediately preceding the filing of charges before the Sandiganbayan — with Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla having signed the charge sheet against the two lawmakers and former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
Where exactly the two traveled has come up in accounts from investigators. National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag told radio station True FM that records showed both left on August 2, taking different flights that routed through Hong Kong, with France as the intended final stop. His office had been trying to reach Leviste in a separate matter: the congressman skipped an August 6 appearance tied to an NBI subpoena over an alleged “honey trap” scheme said to target Executive Secretary Ralph Recto. “He didn’t appear because he traveled; he left,” Matibag said.
Inside the Senate, the response to the reports has been measured. Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said he had not been briefed on any overseas trip by Legarda and noted that lawmakers are not obligated to clear personal travel with the chamber. “I don’t have any information about her foreign trip. We haven’t talked about her trip yet. If it’s a personal trip, there’s no need for travel authority from the Senate,” he said.
Documentation of Legarda’s absence, however, did reach the Senate Secretariat. Secretary Renato Bantug Jr. said the senator’s chief of staff submitted a letter on August 3 stating that “Senator Loren Legarda will be on medical leave from 3 to 5 August 2026.” That leave has been offered as the explanation for why Legarda was not present at the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte during those three days. Senator Erwin Tulfo, speaking to reporters at the Ombudsman’s office, said no specific medical condition was cited, only that the leave was filed for medical reasons.
The Ombudsman’s findings allege that Legarda, Leviste, and Cusi worked in concert to lock up exclusive state rights over solar development through legislative and regulatory maneuvering. Investigators contend that Leviste amassed enough service contracts to build what they described as a near-monopoly, with several of the deals routed to affiliated firms said to exist only on paper. Remulla has pointed to Legarda’s stint as chair of the Senate finance committee, which she held until 2019, as the leverage that allowed her son to obtain the Solar Para sa Bayan franchise that year.
