Cabral bypassed key office in budget amendments, DPWH exec tells court

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MANILA, Philippines — The late Department of Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral had skipped the agency’s chain of command as she submitted budget amendments known as “errata” without a required endorsement from a division, a witness told the Sandiganbayan on Wednesday.

Alex Bote, now an assistant secretary of the DPWH, made this testimony before the antigraft court Third Division’s malversation trial of former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. over the alleged ghost flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan.

Bote previously served as the agency’s planning service director.

Citing a DPWH department order, he told the court through his judicial affidavit or written sworn statement that the “errata” should have been endorsed by the planning division.