BAGUIO CITY — Resigned Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, who was linked to flood control irregularities, was declared dead after she was found “unconscious and unresponsive” along Bued River at Kennon Road on Thursday night, December 18, 2025.
Cabral’s death was declared by physician Gian Frances Salinas at 12:02 a.m. Friday, December 19, after her body was brought up from the river by first responders around 12 midnight.
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Ricardio Munos Hernandez, Cabral’s driver, informed the police that he was driving his employer down Kennon Road on route from Baguio to La Union province when she decided to disembark and asked to be left alone at Purok Maramal, Sitio Camp 5 in Barangay Camp 4 at 3 pm. This section of the zigzag road is within the jurisdiction of Tuba town in Benguet province and is a populated area.
The driver said he returned for Cabral at 5 pm, but could not locate her. Hernandez sped back to a Baguio hotel where Cabral was booked and then returned to the Kennon Road Viewdeck, where Station 8 of the Baguio City Police Office is located.
The police began their own search and discovered Cabral about 30 meters from the riverbank. It was not clear why Tuba firemen carried her up to the road only at midnight or about four hours after the police caught sight of her.
Maramal is near a damaged rockshed and a rock netting project site which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr inspected with Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong and Tuba Mayor Clarita Sal-ongan in August over questions about their quality of work.
These projects were flagged by Marcos as anomalies for which top officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways were investigated, including Cabral, who denied taking part in a multibillion-peso kickback scam after being linked by fellow Usec Roberto Bernardo.
Cabral oversaw planning and public-private partnership projects and supposedly allocated DPWH funds. She resigned in September but was still summoned by the Independent Commission on Infrastructure on Dec. 15.
Benguet Rep. Eric Yap was also at Kennon during Marcos’ inspection. His assets were ordered frozen by the Court of Appeals last week after he was tied to allegedly anomalous projects in La Union province.