THE death four days ago of Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, under obviously uncanny circumstances, has slapped those following the flood control scandal with disturbing unease.
The remains of the 63-year-old former DPWH official, who resigned from her post on Sept. 14, a little over three months before her death was declared after supposedly falling off a ravine in Benguet, have been found.
We know law enforcement authorities and others involved in forensic evidence are knee-deep in trying to solve the corpus delicti, right in mid stream of investigations by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure on the flood control mishmash which jarred the nation and allowed the flood of fake news shared minus the fact checks in social media.
And things have become curiouser and curiouser in that things are becoming increasingly strange, unusual, or perplexing, with one young member of the House of Representatives saying in press statements and Facebook post he has a copy of Cabral’s list of alleged proponents on infrastructure projects.
We would hope the congressman go beyond issuing press statements, submit to the authorities whatever he has on his plate, subscribe to it, and submit the same to the authorities and let the latter do their job in following the paper or audit trail if any.
The people, who felt badly cheated by the insatiable and greedy, have since demanded accountability or answerability and transparency or clarity on where their money – in the aggregate billions – have been spent which sadly resulted in ghost projects in different areas of this country of unsuspecting taxpayers.
While issuing press statements may earn for anyone publicity space, we feel – since authorities are working anyway on hand marks on flood control projects – whatever they have in their bags and baskets, like perhaps list of proponents of DPWH insertions, should be submitted immediately to the authorities.
The list allegedly includes high-ranking officials from the executive branch – including secretaries and undersecretaries from departments outside the DPWH – as well as private individuals.
We need to read and know what is beyond the press statements.
While a press statement delivers facts, “going beyond” might involve adding data, case studies, or outlining specific initiatives that add substance to the news and position the speaker as a go-to source, rather than just another voice.
The core idea is action, not just words, in what is newsworthy and makes a real-world difference.
We submit.
