MARIA CATALINA E. CABRAL made history when she became the first female rank and file employee who reached the level of Undersecretary in the hierarchy of officials in the engineering and construction arm of the government.

A licensed Civil Engineer, Undersecretary Cabral has three (3) Masters Degrees and two (2) Doctorate Degrees in the field of Business Management, Economics and Public Administration. And at present she is taking another Doctorate Degree on Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Philippines

As Undersecretary for Planning and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Service, Undersecretary Cabral is in-charge of overseeing the development of strategic and priority plans and programs of the Department including implementation of PPP projects.

She is a registered ASEAN and APEC Engineer and has been conferred as an Honorary Fellow by the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organization. She is the 2017-2018 National President and first female highest leader of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE), again, exemplifying the role of women in infrastructure. And recently, she elected as National President of the Road Engineering Association of the Philippines (REAP) for 2019-2021. She also commissioned in the Reserve Force, Armed Forces of the Philippines with the rank of  LIEUTENANT COLONEL in the Philippine Army.

In 2018, she was conferred the rank of Career Executive Service Officer I (CESO I) by the Career Executive Service Board (CESB). She was also nominated as 2018 Search for Outstanding Public Officials and Employees for “Presidential Lingkod Bayan” Category. She received the Most Outstanding Alumni Awardee by the University of the East in 2018. And recently, she received the 2020 Excellence Award from Philippine Federations of Professional Associations (PFPA).

With 35 years of experience in public service, Undersecretary Cabral’s professional and personal feat as a public servant, an engineer, and a woman serves as inspiration not only to DPWH but also to other public servants.