Former Department of Public Works (DPWH) Undersecretary Catalina Cabral has died after allegedly falling from a cliff along Kennon Road in Tuba, Benguet, according to police Thursday night.

Police Major Peter Camsol, chief of police of the Tuba Municipal Station, said a municipal doctor – Dr Gian Frances Salinas – declared Cabral’s death at the site of the incident beside the Bued River at 12:03 a.m. Friday.

Camsol said the remains of the former official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have been moved from the site to be transported to a funeral home.

He said they are still investigating the circumstances of Cabral’s death.

Cabral was earlier reported to have been found “unconscious and unresponsive” 20 to 30 meters below a highway hours after she told her driver to leave her at a portion of Kennon Road.

According to the driver, he and Cabral were travelling along Kennon Road towards La Union at around 3 p.m. when Cabral asked her driver to stop at Kennon Road Maramal, Camp 5, Camp 4, beside the Bued River and be left there.

The driver then went to a nearby gasoline station.

The driver then returned to the area at around 5 p.m. but failed to see Cabral.

He then went back to the hotel where Cabral was staying, but she was also not there.

Baguio police went to the scene and found the victim at the side of the Bued River, 20 to 30 meters below the highway. She was said to be “unconscious and unresponsive.”

Cabral resigned in September amid the congressional investigations into anomalous flood control projects and alleged kickbacks by lawmakers and government officials

Independent Commission for Infrastructure spokesperson Brian Hosaka said on Dec. 11 that the ICI would invite Cabral as a resource person in its investigation into ghost and substandard flood control projects.

Former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, in an affidavit he read before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, implicated several lawmakers and former DPWH officials, including Cabral, in the collection of kickbacks from the anomalous projects.

“The Ombudsman’s office directs the authorities in Benguet to take custody of and preserve the cellphone and other gadgets of former Usec. Cathy Cabral,” Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said.

“The same is to be turned over to the investigators at the proper time,” he added.