TUBA, Benguet – The chief of the Tuba Municipal Police, Police Major Peter Camsol, has been relieved from his position following the discovery of investigative lapses in the death of former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) announced the decision on Saturday, citing concerns raised by the Cordillera Administrative Region police.
According to PNP Public Information Office chief Police Brigadier General Randulf Tuaño, the regional police office determined that the Tuba police failed to properly secure crucial evidence at the crime scene. This information was relayed by GMA Integrated News reporter Bea Pinlac.
“Just now…only the chief of police of Tuba is relieved,” Tuaño confirmed in a text message to GMA Integrated News.
While Camsol was relieved, Benguet Police chief Police Colonel Lambert Suerte will remain in his post because “he was able to negotiate with the deceased family for the autopsy,” Tuaño said.
The Cabral family had initially hesitated to allow an autopsy due to the circumstances surrounding her death but eventually agreed. Her body was found in a ravine in Benguet on Friday. Her husband, Cesar, expressed the family’s desire to bring her remains back to Metro Manila for proper grieving.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have both ordered investigations into Cabral’s death. The DILG has instructed the PNP to conduct its own investigation, while the DOJ has tasked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) with performing an autopsy. A DNA test has also been ordered by the DILG to confirm the identity of the remains, though Cesar Cabral stated that he and his children have already identified the body.
Cabral was found “unconscious and unresponsive” on Thursday evening, approximately 20 to 30 meters below a highway, hours after requesting her driver to drop her off along Kennon Road. The Tuba Municipal Station reported that a municipal doctor pronounced her dead at the scene, near the Bued River, at 12:03 a.m. on Friday.
The Office of the Ombudsman had previously directed Benguet authorities to secure Cabral’s cellphone and other personal gadgets. However, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla noted lapses in protocol when the police released Cabral’s belongings, including her cellphone, to her family soon after her death.
Cabral, a respected bureaucrat once lauded as a “model” for “Women in Infrastructure,” had recently become embroiled in controversy regarding alleged anomalies in flood control projects. Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon revealed in a press conference on Friday that the DOJ was planning to refer a plunder case involving Cabral to the Ombudsman in connection with these alleged irregularities in Bulacan.
