Ex-DPWH undersecretary Cabral's final hours, according to police

Former Department of Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral was last seen alive seated on the side of Kennon Road near the cliff around 2 p.m. on Thursday.

Hours later, she would be found some 20 to 30 meters below, “unconscious and unresponsive.”

According to Police Colonel Lambert Suerte of the Benguet Provincial Police Office, Cabral’s driver, Ricardo Hernandez, said he and the undersecretary had been at the Camp 4 area as early as 10 a.m., where they passed from Manila.

“Sabi raw hinto muna sa gilid. Bumaba siya, akala ng driver nagpapahangin lang,” Suerte told Super Radyo dzBB.

“Chine-check daw 'yung paligid,” he added.

(The driver said Cabral asked him to stop the car. She went down the car, and the driver thought she just wanted to have fresh air. She checked the surroundings.)

Around 12 noon, police officers approached them and said they could not stay by the roadside as they might be involved in an accident.

Thus, Cabral and her driver left and went to Baguio City, where they had lunch at a hotel.

Around 2 p.m., Cabral reportedly asked that they return to the site.

She then asked her driver to leave and stay somewhere else.

Hernandez told police that he went to a nearby gasoline station.

Around 5 p.m., Hernandez returned to the area for the undersecretary. She was no longer there.

He then went back to the hotel in Baguio City to look for her, but she was also not there.

Hernandez then returned to the site on Kennon Road.

Around 7 p.m., when he still could not find Cabral, Hernandez sought police assistance.

Their search led police to find a person who was “unconscious and unresponsive” in the ravine.

A rescue team went down to get her.

It was past 12 midnight when the body was retrieved.

Police Major Peter Camsol, chief of police of the Tuba Municipal Station, said a municipal doctor - Dr Gian Frances Salinas - declared Cabral’s death at the site of the incident beside the Bued River at 12:03 a.m. Friday.

Hernandez identified the remains as those of Cabral. –NB/KG, GMA Integrated News