Department of Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral confirmed in a House hearing that Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte’s district received ₱51 billion in infrastructure funding from 2020 to 2022, during the final years of his father former president Rody Duterte’s administration.
Cabral, along with DPWH executives Eugenio Pipo and Adort Canlas, was implicated in Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN) anchor Cj Hirro’s newly released exposé on the ₱1.2-billion Cabagan–Sta. Maria Bridge collapse. The DPWH officials were major decision makers and overseers in the construction and retrofitting of the doomed project.
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Cabral’s confirmation of the infra projects for Davao shifted questioning away from earlier testimonies of alleged “payola” involving DPWH officials and contractors. Instead of pressing on bribery claims, lawmakers turned their attention to the Duterte family’s infrastructure budget — a redirection that the congressman strongly opposed in a statement.
Paolo Duterte pushed back, saying the hearing unfairly singled out his family while lawmakers ignored corruption in their own districts. He noted that flood control anomalies, waste management failures, and questionable IRA allocations had long plagued other regions.
“Duterte gihapon inyong gi-pangita, bisan naa na sa inyong atubangan ang corruption,” he said.
(Duterte pa rin ang hinahanap ninyo, kahit nasa harap niyo na mismo ang korapsyon.)
The congressman maintained that the ₱51 billion allocation funded legitimate projects that were open to public inspection. He challenged investigators to look at the records and inspect the sites themselves, saying the projects in Davao were “makita, natukod, ug nagamit sa katawhan.”
(Nakikita, naitayo, at nagagamit ng mga tao.)
He also pointed to bigger unresolved scandals, questioning what happened to billions tied to DSWD and DOLE insertions, PhilHealth, and the Maharlika Fund. For him, Congress was selective in its outrage, targeting Davao while overlooking other anomalies.
Duterte reminded lawmakers that he had previously called for the removal of a DPWH regional director involved in right-of-way corruption, which he said showed his commitment to accountability. Unlike others who only talk, he stressed that he had acted decisively when faced with irregularities.
Closing his statement, Duterte rejected what he described as political scapegoating.
“Ayaw mi gamita as panakip-butas. Stop dragging the Dutertes to cover up your mess. Davao’s projects are built on solid ground — makasulti ba mo ug pareho ana sa inyong mga distrito?”
(Huwag ninyo kaming gawing panakip-butas. Tigilan ninyo ang paghatak sa mga Duterte para lang matakpan ang gulo ninyo. Ang mga proyekto sa Davao ay nakatayo sa matibay na pundasyon — masasabi ba n’yo ang ganyan tungkol sa mga distrito ninyo?)
