Netizens are circulating a video showing the late Public Works undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral supposedly spotted in Europe two weeks after her reported death. The posts are false. The clip was taken during a Senate hearing months before her death.
Since Jan. 1, several Facebook pages and users have been sharing a 12-second clip showing Cabral in a brown blazer and pants arriving at a hall. One of the posts bore the text:
“Usec. Cabral spotted in Europe!”
The video is accompanied by an audio clip of a man commenting:
“Hindi siya magalaw galaw kaya iba iba ang kwento. Mayroong inihulog. Mayroong iba ang nakita. Ngayon may mga lumalabas naman na she was spotted in Europe (She cannot be touched, that’s why the story kept on changing. Some say she was pushed. Some say a different person was seen. Now there are hearsays of her being spotted in Europe).”
This is not true. The clip was taken during a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing prior to her death. Authorities have confirmed that it was Cabral’s body that was found at the bottom of a ravine in Benguet on Dec. 19.
Radio station DWIZ 882’s FB page uploaded the original copy on Sept. 23. According to the post’s caption, Cabral was attending the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the flood control corruption controversy that day.
The Senate’s official YouTube channel posted a livestream where Cabral can be seen wearing the same pair of clothes.
The video with the false claim started circulating less than two weeks after Cabral’s death. A key figure in the ongoing investigations into the flood control scandal, the former senior public works executive fell to her death from Kennon Road down to the Bued River in Tuba, Benguet.
Conspiracy theories about her demise have since spread, with some claiming that it was a fake death. However, according to Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, the autopsy confirmed that it was Cabral’s body, with results consistent with blunt force trauma from a 30-meter fall.
During an interview on ANC’s headstart, Remulla said “all signs point to suicide,” based on the authorities’ investigations. According to Cabral’s counsel, her family has ruled out foul play and confirmed the authorities’ report that anti-depression medications were found in the late undersecretary’s belongings.
VERA Files has debunked other disinformation related to the flood control controversy.
At least 10 posts of the false video uploaded by FB users and pages have collectively garnered 36,853 reactions, 6,088 comments, 14,202 shares and 6,485,100 views.
