By Brian Campued
The Office of the Ombudsman has directed authorities in Benguet to immediately take custody of the cellphone and other electronic devices of the late Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.
In a statement Friday, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said the investigators “need her phone at all costs.”
Cabral, who had been implicated in flood control anomalies, died after allegedly falling from a cliff near the Bued River along Kennon Road in Tuba on Thursday night.
Based on reports, the former undersecretary was found unconscious and unresponsive 20 to 30 meters below the highway and later declared dead at 12:03 a.m. on Friday.
Initial investigation also discovered that Cabral had asked her driver to be dropped off on the roadside along Kennon Road around 3:00 p.m. He later returned but could no longer find her, prompting him to search the area and report her disappearance to the local police.
In a separate statement, the DPWH expressed its condolences to the family of Cabral, who served the agency for more than 40 years.
“The Department urges everyone to respect the family’s need for privacy as they mourn and come to terms with the sudden loss,” it said.
Cabral resigned from her post as undersecretary for Planning and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in September 2025 after being embroiled in allegations of budget insertions in government infrastructure projects.
The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) has likewise called for a prompt and thorough investigation into the death of Cabral as she was one of the “central figures” in the ongoing probe into the flood control scam.
Aside from her gadgets, the ICI also asked law enforcement agencies to secure and preserve Cabral’s documents and computers for possible digital forensics examination. (with reports from Ryan Lesigues, Bernard Ferrer, and Harley Valbuena / PTV News and Jezryl Khate Lapizar / PTV News Cordillera)
-jpv
