Cabral did not receive ICI invite on flood control mess hearing — lawyer

The camp of the late Public Works and Highways undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral on Tuesday said she was not informed by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure regarding its hearing on anomalous flood control projects, amid reports that she did not answer the ICI’s invite.

“She did not receive any communication, let alone the purported subpoena, from the honorable commission about the same. Ms. Cabral has no intention whatsoever of avoiding inquiry,”  Atty. Mae Divinagracia, Cabral's counsel, said in a letter dated December 15.

In December, ICI spokesperson Brian Hosaka said they were eyeing to invite Cabral as a resource person for a hearing on December 15, its last for 2025.

Hosaka, however, later said that there was no confirmation from Cabral.

Three days later, on December 18, Cabral was found “unconscious and unresponsive” 20 to 30 meters below a highway hours after she instructed her driver to leave her at a portion of Kennon Road in Tuba, Benguet.

She was later pronounced dead shortly after midnight on December 19.

Divinagracia stressed that Cabral already appeared before the ICI in September 2025. She said Cabral also asked the commission if she was still needed and was told to wait for a subpoena.

In the letter, she also assured the commission that Cabral seeks to maintain her cooperation with authorities over the investigation.

“Rest assured that Ms. Cabral remains committed to cooperating with the Honorable Commission in ferreting out the truth on the alleged flood control project anomalies,” she said.

In a message to reporters, Hosaka said the ICI issued its subpoena to Cabral on December 9 via the DPWH.

“The last hearing of the ICI for the year was December 15, 2025. Should there have been any subsequent hearings by the commission, Usec. Cabral would have definitely been invited again especially with her willingness to appear as manifested in her lawyer’s letter,” he said.

“However, we were overtaken by events with the resignation of two of our commissioners and of course by the death of Usec. Cabral,” he added.

Cabral has been linked to anomalous flood control projects by former Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo. He claimed that Cabral would ask him to submit a list of projects related to lump sum fund allocations of the department. —AOL/RF, GMA Integrated News