Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima can't help but feel something strange going on with the apparent refusal of Maria Catalina Cabral's family to have the body of the late Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official undergo an autopsy.

"There is no question that in the crucial investigation of cases such as suspicious deaths, an autopsy and DNA tests are indispensable," De Lima said in a statement Saturday, Dec. 20.

"That’s why something is really fishy about the Cabral family's resistance to an autopsy and further investigation into former DPWH Usec. Maria Catalina Cabral’s death," she said.

Cabral--one of the former DPWH officials implicated in the flood control projects corruption scandal--reportedly died on Thursday night, Dec. 18 after falling into a ravine in Benguet. Authorities are looking into the possibility of foul play.

According to De Lima, Cabral's family should be the first to scream out for justice and demanding a full investigation. That's not what she's seeing.

"Instead, they refuse to treat it as a highly suspicious death—readily accepting that it was an accident and that the government should leave it at that. It gives rise to speculation that the body is not Cabral’s and the driver and family are all involved in the alleged staged suicide," she said.

The former Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary said this development should "raise alarm bells for the PNP".

"There is an urgent need for an autopsy and DNA test, with her personal effects confiscated as evidence in the investigation," she said.

But this early into the probe, De Lima says the Philippine National Police (PNP) is already "botching" procedures.

"It is concerning that the PNP appears to be botching this up by going easy in securing Cabral’s belongings, as news reports indicate that her cellphone was immediately turned over to the family," she noted.

"It seems that the PNP is not treating this as a death under investigation, but as an ordinary death where family has prerogative over personal effects and the body itself, which should not be the case since this is a suspicious death involving a controversial personality," she pointed out.

For De Lima, there are simple a lot of questions surrounding Cabral's death that must be answered, given the latter's connection to the flood control projects mess.

"Sa naulat na pagkamatay ni dating Usec. Cabral, maraming katanungan ang maaaring hindi na mabigyan ng kasagutan at kalinawan, kaya dapat lang na may urgency ang mga awtoridad sa paghagilap at pagprotekta sa mga ebidensya sa nangyari sa kanya at sa kinasasangkutan niyang anomalya," she said.

(With the reported death of former Usec. Cabral, many questions may no longer be answered or clarified, which is why authorities must act with urgency in gathering and protecting the evidence related to what happened to her and to the anomaly he was involved in.)

"Hindi pwedeng sa pagkamatay niya ay mailibing na rin ang mga katibayan, lalo na ang buong katotohanan, sa malawakang katiwalian at pandarambong sa kaban ng bayan," she further said.

(Her death must not also mean that the evidence—especially the whole truth—be buried along with him, in the widespread corruption and plunder of the nation’s coffers.)