Former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Catalina Cabral was getting ready to speak.
To tell everything she knew.
And then—she was gone.
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson revealed that before Cabral’s death, she appeared prepared to do a full “tell-all” on the flood control fund controversy that has shaken the government.
In a radio interview on Saturday, Lacson said Cabral personally reached out to him. She wanted to talk. She wanted to explain.
This came after former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo publicly implicated her during a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing.
According to Lacson, Cabral was ready to testify.
She had documents.
She had names.
And she had details.
Before her death on December 18, Cabral reportedly said she was prepared to discuss Special Allotment Release Orders, or SAROs—documents that allegedly showed around ₱50 billion in unprogrammed fund insertions in the national budget.
What Lacson described next was even more alarming.
He said the so-called “Cabral files” listed at least five Cabinet members who allegedly had both allocable and non-allocable funds under the proposed 2025 budget. One official, identified only as “ES,” was reportedly linked to ₱8.3 billion in insertions.
The documents also allegedly showed former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan with ₱30.5 billion in fund allocations under his name.
And it didn’t stop there.
Lacson said several other Cabinet secretaries were each listed with around ₱2 billion, with even more funds supposedly earmarked for House leaders and multiple party-list representatives.
Whether these same officials also received similar funds from other government agencies remains unclear.
But Lacson was firm.
“The information I got is based on documents given to me by Cabral’s lawyer and documents I obtained from the DPWH,” he said. “These documents can be authenticated.”
He then raised a pointed question—one that lingers heavily.
“Why should Cabinet secretaries get allocables?” Lacson asked. “I thought allocables were for lawmakers to request projects for their districts. Even that, to me, is unacceptable.”
Lacson stressed that crafting the National Expenditure Program should be the exclusive responsibility of the executive branch—not lawmakers, and not individual officials seeking allocations.
He added that the alleged Cabral files could be authenticated by Budget and Management Officer-in-Charge Rolando Toledo or by the DPWH itself.
Once verified, Lacson said, Cabinet secretaries named in the documents could be summoned to face the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee as the investigation into alleged flood control anomalies deepens.
The documents reportedly detail DPWH fund allocations by district, province, and region from 2023 to 2026.
Before her death, Cabral allegedly handed these files to Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Leviste.
After she passed away, the lawmaker made them public.
Cabral may no longer be here.
But the questions she left behind are only growing louder.
