Leandro L. Leviste is a Filipino entrepreneur and politician. He is best known for his pioneering investments in the solar power industry in the Philippines.
In the 2025 election, Leandro Leviste ran for congressman in the first district of Batangas Province under Lakas Party and defeated incumbent congressman Eric Buhain. He got 268,764 votes (75%) compared to 91,588 for Buhain. His victory ended the dynastic rule of the Ermita-Buhain political clan.
In June of 2020, Leviste’s Solar Philippines sold 50% of its subsidiary company in Tarlac to Prime Metroline Infrastructure Holdings (Prime Infra) of tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. for php 1.5 billion.
In 2018, Leandro Leviste led the inauguration of a 6-megawatt solar power plant in Paluan, Occidental Mindoro.
In 2017, Solar Philippines opened the first Filipino solar panel factory creating around 1000 manufacturing jobs.
Personal Information
Complete Name –> Leandro Antonio Legarda Leviste
Birth Date –> March 18, 1993 (Age )
Birth Place –> Makati, Philippines
Hometown –> Calatagan, Batangas , Philippines
Family
Father –> Former Governor Antonio Leviste
Mother –> Senator and former Congresswoman Loren Legarda
Brother –> Lorenzo Leviste
* Leandro Leviste is single.
Education
College –> Yale University
Degree –> N/A
Career Highlights
Chairman and CEO, Solar Philippines (Southeast Asia’s largest and only integrated solar developer)
Chairman and CEO, Solar Philippines Tarlac Corporation
Success Story
Leandro Antonio Legarda Leviste is a Filipino businessman and politician who has served as the representative for Batangas’s 1st congressional district since 2025. He was born on March 18, 1993, to former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste and Senator Loren Legarda. He is recognized as the Philippines’ youngest self-made billionaire.
Leviste attended Yale University, where he studied political science but dropped out to pursue business. He founded Solar Philippines in 2013, a company that became Southeast Asia’s largest solar company. Its subsidiary, SP New Energy Corporation (SPNEC), was the first solar company to have an initial public offering (IPO) in the Philippines, making Leviste the youngest chairman of a company on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
In 2023, he sold a controlling stake in SPNEC to Manila Electric (Meralco) for P34 billion. The following year, he invested P15 billion in provincial projects, including a poultry farm and land investments in Batangas, Tarlac, and Nueva Ecija, through Provincia Investments Corp. He also acquired a 10% stake in ABS-CBN Corporation, making him the media giant’s largest shareholder after Lopez Inc.
In 2025, Leviste was elected as a Congressman for the 1st District of Batangas. He won a historic landslide victory with 268,764 votes, the most votes ever recorded in a congressional race in Batangas. He is a member of the Lakas political party. On the first day of his term, he filed a bill to provide a monthly allowance of P1,000 to every Filipino student from kindergarten to college, regardless of socioeconomic status.
On August 22, 2025, Congressman Leviste helped lead a police entrapment operation that resulted in the arrest of Abelardo Calalo, a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineer who allegedly attempted to bribe him for 3.1 million pesos. Read more…
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