Untimely

The case of Catalina Cabral could not possibly be closed – even if all evidence gathered by the police point to a suicide.

In this country, corruption has risen to the level of a highly organized crime. The staggering amounts looted from public works projects were made possible by a sophisticated conspiracy involving contractors, bureaucrats and politicians. Cabral was perhaps the most important cog in the network that made large-scale looting possible.

A civil engineer with two PhDs, Cabral was highly intelligent. She was, from what we now know, a very efficient operator. Also a most amoral one.

She dealt with both highly placed legislators, senior bureaucrats and big contractors with ease. She identified corruptible projects and saw to it they were included in the National Expenditure Plan. She found a way to make congressional insertions even before Congress inserted them. She apportioned the loot and supervised their delivery to the plunderers.

Had Cabral chosen to confess her crimes instead of taking her own life, she could decimate the political elite with her revelations. That makes her, for many of the most corrupt, a very dangerous person. For the most corrupt, her death was a convenient one.

Rep. Leandro Leviste claims he is in possession of the entirety of Cabral’s “secret” files and will release them if authorized by the DPWH secretary. It turns out, the same exact files have been copy furnished the ombudsman and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) – in addition to the original soft copies in the custody of the DPWH.

These files, supposedly containing the complete list of power brokers who dealt with Cabral, must have explosive evidentiary value. But for some reason, their contents have been kept “secret” rather than disclosed to the public.

There should be enough excuses to keep them from being made public. Prosecutors may argue that premature disclosure could compromise the investigations being undertaken. But while these files are kept away from the public, ill-gotten wealth could be squirreled away ahead of any freeze orders being issued. Some trade-off will have to be reached if we still hope some restitution is possible.

To date, an executive secretary, a budget secretary and the previous public works secretary have resigned. Several undersecretaries have resigned as well – including Jojo Cadiz, who Zaldy Co claims is the President’s bagman. A minor DPWH official in southern Luzon committed suicide. Now Cabral is gone.

Very little has been disclosed about the resignations of very senior administration officials, all of them tightly within BBM’s orbit. Much effort has been invested in trying to downplay Zaldy Co’s allegations. But every official he names, it seems, disappears from the public eye very quickly.

Clearly, tight management is exercised over what is disclosed to the pubic. The Cabral files is an instance of this. To date, there is very little official acknowledgement about the existence of these highly explosive files. So much for transparency in governance.

For a government functionary, Catalina Cabral appears to have accumulated vast wealth. She owns several homes, including one reportedly being built in Forbes Park with a five-level basement. She is neighbors with Martin Romualdez, Zaldy Co, Edwin Gardiola and others whose names have been associated with the public works scandal. She can afford to choose her neighbors well.

A few months ago, she bought a hotel in Baguio – the same hotel she checked into hours before she died. That property alone is worth over half a billion pesos.

Cabral’s estate is in the billions. That is not bad for a government functionary. Recovering anything from this vast estate will require the filing of civil suits and enduring many years of litigation. To this day, we are still chasing Ferdinand E. Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth four decades after he fled.

Her family is not expected to be cooperative in helping government retrieve Cabral’s unexplained wealth. They were initially reluctant to authorize an autopsy or surrender her phone and laptop. They have every reason to avoid cooperation.

Cabral’s death may soon be ruled a suicide. There are no signs of violence in the crime scene. She was not killed before being thrown off into a deep ravine. But we cannot yet be convinced she was not induced to kill herself.

This makes proper interrogation of Cabral’s driver so important. He was most proximate to Cabral in her final hours. He could not avoid overhearing her phone conversations in the car. He might be able to corroborate whatever information may be recovered from her phone and laptop. Right now the driver might be entitled to police protection.

Police investigators are not the most talkative persons around. They are reluctant to share information with the public. They are hesitant to disclose information relating to powerful persons.

Whatever we might want to know about Cabral and her role in the plunder scheme, we will have to pry from the official gatekeepers of information. This administration is not the most forthcoming. To the contrary, it has tried to suppress information whenever possible – all the while professing adherence to transparent and accountable governance.

Those crusading for honest government should engage in every tactical issue that crops up. The Cabral files is one important tactical issue. The information here should give us a clear idea of how wide the network of plunder actually is.

Cabral’s death was untimely – but also too convenient.