Former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral was found unconscious after allegedly falling from a cliff along Kennon Road in Tuba, Benguet, police said Thursday night. She was later pronounced dead at 12:03 a.m. on December 19.
According to the Benguet Provincial Police Office, the incident was reported by Cabral's driver, who said they were traveling along Kennon Road toward La Union at around 3 p.m. on Thursday, December 18, when Cabral asked to be dropped off and told him to leave her there.
The driver said he went to a nearby gasoline station and returned to the area at around 5 p.m., but Cabral was no longer there. He then proceeded to the hotel where she was staying, only to find that she had not returned.
He reported the incident to police at around 7 p.m. Authorities later found Cabral's body at around 8 p.m. on the side of the Bued River, at least 20 meters below Kennon Road. She was unconscious and unresponsive at the time and was later declared dead shortly after midnight.
Police have yet to release further details on the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Cabral had earlier been implicated in allegations involving budget insertions and kickbacks linked to multibillion-peso flood control projects. DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon previously said Cabral denied claims connecting her to alleged 2026 budget insertions.
As DPWH Undersecretary for Planning and Public-Private Partnership, Cabral oversaw the agency's budget preparation, infrastructure planning and programming, and public-private partnership projects before she resigned from her post.
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