SILG Remulla: Cabral’s body found near anomalous rock netting project

The body of former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral was found near the site of an allegedly anomalous rock netting project in Benguet, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla said on Tuesday.

In a press briefing, Remulla said the corruption scandal that Cabral was embroiled in served as her "tormentor" that prompted her to leap to her death.

“It is usual in the psychological makeup of suicide attempts that they go where they are most tormented,” Remulla said during a press briefing.

Prior to her death on December 19, Cabral was facing a high-profile investigation into a corruption scandal supposedly involving overpriced and substandard infrastructure projects of the DPWH.

“In this case, we see a pattern of torment for her because of the rock netting cases in Benguet, which I think down the road will implicate her, as well as some congressmen and the contractors who implemented the project,” Remulla said.

The DILG chief said the rock netting project in question was “severely overpriced,” noting that similar works typically cost around P325 per square meter but were billed to the government at P1,400 per square meter.

A rock netting project is a safety measure used to prevent rocks and debris from falling onto the famed Kennon Road leading to Baguio City.

Citing closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, Remulla dismissed claims that Cabral allegedly traveled to Benguet to collect a debt from a contractor.

“Hindi. Ang lahat ng CCTV ay umakyat siya diretso sa hotel room. Kumain, tapos bumaba na kaagad. So wala siyang kinausap. So far, wala kaming nakitang may kinausap na iba,” Remulla said.

(Not true. All the CCTV footage shows her going straight to her hotel room, eating, then immediately coming back down. She did not talk to anyone. So far, we have not seen her speak with anyone else.)

Police operatives found a knife and several medications inside the hotel room where Cabral stayed before her death.

“If we’re talking about the knife or the items that were recovered, the knife was for self-protection or personal use inside the bag. As for the medications, we secured them and are currently studying them,” Philippine National Police (PNP) acting chief Police Lieutenant General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said.

Cabral was found “unconscious and unresponsive” on December 18, around 20 to 30 meters below a highway, several hours after she reportedly asked her driver to drop her off along a section of Kennon Road.

The Tuba Municipal Police Station said a municipal doctor pronounced Cabral dead at the scene beside the Bued River on December 19. Initial findings point to suicide, police said.

Cabral resigned from the DPWH in September 2025 amid congressional investigations into allegedly anomalous flood control projects and claims of kickbacks involving lawmakers and government officials.

Earlier this month, Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) spokesperson Brian Hosaka said the body would invite Cabral as a resource person in its probe into alleged ghost and substandard flood control projects.

Former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, in an affidavit read before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, earlier implicated several lawmakers and former DPWH officials—including Cabral—in the alleged collection of kickbacks from the anomalous projects.—MCG, GMA Integrated News