Ex-DPWH exec dead: Foul play or suicide?

Former Department of Public Work and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral — one of the key figures in the ongoing investigation on anomalous flood control projects — was found dead in a ravine along Kennon Road, Camp 4, here on Thursday evening.

- By ARTEMIO DUMLAO

the Benguet police shows officers inspecting the spot where former DPWH a Catalina Cabral (top inset) fell to her death in Sitio Marammal, Barangay Camp 4, Tuba, Benguet. Lower inset shows emergency responders recovering the remains of Cabral from the 30-meter ravine.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said the autopsy on Cabral and initial findings pointed to suicide, but the government would still pursue the possibility of foul play, among others to dispel suspicions of conspiracy to silence her.

Remulla sacked the police chief of Tuba and provincial police chief of Benguet for mishandling of the incident, including turning over Cabral's cell phone to her relatives.

Earlier Thursday, Cabral had told her driver, Ricardo Munos Hernandez, to stop by the roadside in Maramal, Camp 4, in Tuba, where Cabral stood near the rim of a steep 30-meter drop, but a policeman told them they could not stop there.

They proceeded to a hotel in Baguio City where they had something to eat. Remulla said CCTV footage showed that Cabral did not talk to anyone at the hotel, contrary to speculative reports.

Cabral then decided to proceed to La Union. Reaching the same spot in Maramal at around 3 p.m., she told Hernandez to pull over and to leave her. Hernandez did as he was told and drove away to look for a gas station.

When he returned, Cabral was nowhere to be found.

He drove back to the Baguio hotel where they came from, but did not find Cabral. Hernandez then drove back to the site where he left Cabral before reporting the matter to the Baguio City Police Office Station 8 along Camp 8 in Baguio City at approximately 7 p.m.