PNP: 3D scan shows Cabral may have slid off, was not pushed

A 3D scan of the ravine where the body of the late former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral was found in Benguet showed she may have slid off and was not pushed, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP).

"Makikita n'yo na ang layo ng katawan ng victim o cadaver ay around only 0.2 (meter) from the base of the ravine. Kung tinulak ito, chances are lalayo pa siya roon," PNP Forensic Group officer-in-charge Police Colonel Pierre Paul Carpio said in a press briefing on Monday.

(You will see that the distance of the body from the ravine was 0.2 meters. If she was pushed, chances are the body would have been found farther away.)

"Makikita n'yo rito na ang kamay ay may gasgas dito, pati likod. Ang laki ng probabilidad na nagpadausdos talaga siya," Carpio added.  

(You will see that she has scratches on her hand and back. There is a big probability that she slid off.)

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

According to the PNP, an autopsy report on her body showed she succumbed to blunt traumatic injuries to the head, trunk, and left upper and lower extremities due to a fall from height. She died on December 18 at around 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., the PNP added.

Apart from the autopsy and 3D scan on the scene, police also said it completed the fingerprint examination, histopathology exam, and DNA examination on Cabral.

The late DPWH official previously tested positive for an antidepressant medication.

Cabral, one of the government officials implicated in the flood control mess, 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.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) was supposed to refer to the Ombudsman a plunder case that involved Cabral in relation to the alleged anomalous flood control projects in Bulacan before her death.

Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon said the case, which was set for referral for evaluation to the Office of the Ombudsman, involves some DPWH officials in the province, as well as proponents who may have benefited from the projects. —KG, GMA Integrated News