Six boxes.
That was all the late Public Works Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral needed to defend herself.
According to her lawyer, those boxes contained documents that would have shown she was innocent in the controversial flood control projects — proof that she was only following orders. But the documents were never turned over. Today, they are missing.
In a report by Maki Pulido on “24 Oras,” Cabral’s lawyer, Mae Divinagracia, said her client was supposed to hand her the files shortly before her death.
That turnover never happened.
“Those documents would show that she was just really following orders,” Divinagracia said,
“directing her to vet and review projects if they were qualified for funding.”
Branded a Mastermind
Last year, during a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing, former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo publicly named Cabral as the alleged mastermind behind a kickback scheme inside the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Bernardo claimed Cabral had the power to insert, remove, or alter projects in the National Expenditure Program — a serious accusation that quickly put her in the spotlight.
But her lawyer says the claim doesn’t match reality.
“She told me she knew nothing,” Divinagracia said.
“If anything illegal happened, it would have been during awarding or implementation.”
Cabral, she stressed, was never a district engineer.
She was never a regional director.
She did not supervise district or regional engineering offices.
“The people with supervision and control are the undersecretaries for operations,” Divinagracia explained.
A Life That Didn’t Match the Accusations
Divinagracia was firm: Cabral never received kickbacks.
Despite accusations involving billions of pesos, Cabral lived quietly with her family in a modest home in Quezon City — a home they never left until she died.
“If she really had ₱20 billion,” her lawyer said,
“they would not be living the way they did.”
One of Cabral’s children works as a hotel cook.
Another is a Salary Grade 11 government employee.
There were no mansions.
No luxury cars.
No signs of sudden wealth.
Fear, Pressure, and Feeling Abandoned
Before she was found dead in a ravine in Benguet in mid-December 2025, Cabral had already been struggling.
According to her lawyer, she had made attempts on her own life after being publicly tagged in the scandal.
She felt cornered.
“She kept asking me,” Divinagracia recalled,
“Was Secretary Bonoan summoned? Why are people who admitted their role being offered immunity?”
To Cabral, it didn’t make sense.
“She felt abandoned,” her lawyer said.
“She felt she was being made a scapegoat.”
Willing to Speak — But Never Called
Despite everything, Cabral was ready to face the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).
She wanted to speak.
She wanted to explain.
But no invitation ever came.
Her camp formally wrote to the ICI on December 15, expressing her willingness to attend any hearing.
Three days later, Maria Catalina Cabral was dead.
And with her, six boxes of documents — her final defense — disappeared.
