The Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police are looking at the possibility that former Public Works Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral may have committed suicide.
“All signs point to suicide,” DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla told ANC.
Acting PNP chief Police Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. added: “The pieces of evidence that were gathered show that there is suicide, but we cannot say yet for sure.”
“Let the investigators complete their probe – comparing every piece of evidence, every statement, and every footage. Let’s wait for the forensics analysis so we can correlate everything,” Nartatez added.
Cabral, who resigned from the DPWH in September after she was implicated in the flood control mess, was found dead Thursday night after allegedly falling off a ravine along Kennon Road in Tuba, Benguet.
Remulla on Sunday said it appeared Cabral surveyed the ravine, which had a drop of about 30 meters, which he said may indicate the “seriousness of the intent” to jump.
“While on their way up to Baguio, she asked her driver to stop at the exact spot and walked toward the edge. It was only when police saw them and told them they were not allowed to park in the area that they proceeded to their hotel,” Remulla said.
“The seriousness of the intent is measured by the lethality of the means,” the interior chief added.
Remulla said the reaction of Cabral’s husband to her death was “kind of strange” and also raised “a lot of red flags.”
“He was very straight to the point, he was not crying… It raises a lot of red flags for us,” Remulla said.
“What we know is that their relationship has been strained a long time, but they’ve been living as man and wife, they’ve never separated,” he added.
Investigators found no signs of foul play, Remulla said, with no indications of struggle inside Cabral’s vehicle, no gunshot wounds, and no foreign skin cells under her fingernails, Remulla said.
He said the autopsy showed the former DPWH official died from blunt force trauma consistent with a fall, with injuries including fractures to the face and head, broken ribs and fractured legs.
