The death of a senior public works official alleged to have played a central role in the billion-peso flood-control scandal in the Philippines has cast fresh doubt over the future of a months-long corruption probe, with investigators now facing questions over lost testimony and compromised evidence.
Legal analysts say the investigations now risk unravelling altogether, warning that the probe is “in peril” after the loss of a figure seen as pivotal to understanding how alleged budget manipulation and kickbacks were carried out.
On December 18, police reportedly found Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral unconscious in a ravine near a river along Kennon Road in Benguet province.
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Cabral had travelled from Manila to Baguio City earlier that day and was reported to have visited the same stretch of road twice, an area linked to a controversial rockfall netting project that officials had been preparing to file a criminal complaint over due to alleged overpricing.
Philippine church group protests against flood-control corruption scandal
Philippine church group protests against flood-control corruption scandal
She was pronounced dead shortly after midnight, with authorities saying she may have fallen to her death.
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