DOJ: Forfeiture cases vs Cabral can still be pursued

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December 21, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) is looking into the possibility of filing civil forfeiture cases to recover in favor of the government the assets of the late Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.

At a press conference on Friday, DOJ prosecutor general Richard Anthony Fadullon said that while the law provides that death totally extinguishes the criminal liability of a person, the government may still pursue the recovery of his or her assets to satisfy possible civil liability.

“We will continue to proceed with possible filing of civil forfeiture cases just to make sure that we are able to get hold of reserved assets which were under her name,” he noted.

Fadullon said the DOJ will continue to look into Cabral’s involvement in the flood control scam so that her assets can be preserved by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) by requesting a freeze order from the Court of Appeals.

“We will continue with the investigation because there are many ways to preserve the assets apart from restitution. The AMLC is currently doing that,” he said.

Additionally, Fadullon said there is one plunder case set to be referred by the DOJ to the Office of the Ombudsman for evaluation, involving Cabral and several other flood control project proponents.

“I think it was just overtaken by the events that have happened,” he said.

Fadullon refused to elaborate on the case, saying that it will still be subject to the ombudsman’s investigation, but said that it covers ranking officials for possible plunder.

Meanwhile, at a separate press briefing on Friday, assistant ombudsman Mico Clavano also bared the ombudsman’s plan to still pursue the civil forfeiture of Cabral’s assets.

“Yes, actually the ombudsman has already formed a team to discuss and analyze how we can move against the estate [of Cabral]. Despite the death of a person, accountability still has to be exacted, especially when it involves public funds,” Clavano said.

“So, our hope and our goal here is to make sure that every proven amount, every cent, every peso that might be traced as ill-gotten and that are under the estate of usec. Cabral can be returned to the government,” he added.

State witness?

According to Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Leviste, Cabral wanted to become a state witness in the flood control scam probe, but was not offered such.

He said Cabral had provided him on Sept. 4 pieces of documents containing the lists of proponents of flood control projects.

“Yes, and even after then, she has been attending the hearings in Congress and Senate. And that is one of the other things that the official statement that was just released, she wants to make it clear that she was cooperating in the investigation,” Leviste said in an interview with One News.

“But it is unfortunate that someone who had so much information and could have been a very useful witness was not given the opportunity to share everything that she knew,” he added.

Leviste said that Cabral’s family also issued a statement saying that she was not invited to attend the hearing of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure on Monday. — Jose Rodel Clapano, Neil Jayson Servallos