NEW WORLD RESORTS. Pasay City
Recognizing the valuable contributions of women in the country’s infrastructure development, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral is urging Filipina women to assert their rightful place in engineering and leadership roles in government.

Speaking at the Asia Women’s Forum hosted by the Asia CEO (Chief-Executive-Officer) Forum and held at the Manila Marriott Hotel in Pasay City, Cabral shared her pioneering journey in the infrastructure sector where she called for an end to gender stereotypes in the boardroom and on construction sites.

In her keynote speech, entitled 'Breaking Barriers, Building Legacies', she proudly disclosed that she stands as one of only two female civil engineers ever to receive the Professional Regulation Commission’s Most Outstanding Civil Engineer Award—a prestigious honor that has been awarded since 1977, with only one other woman having received it a decade ago.

Cabral now currently serves as undersecretary for planning and public-private partnerships (PPPs) at the DPWH, she made history as the first woman to rise from the department’s ranks to this high-ranking position even as she likewise shattered new ground as the first female national president of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE).

Accordingly, these achievements reflect her remarkable 30-year career in a field where female leadership remains rare.

Cabral reminisced the stiff challenges of navigating a male-dominated industry, recounting how she often entered project meetings and was mistaken for an assistant rather than the lead engineer.

“Men are assumed to be capable until proven otherwise. Women are assumed to be incapable until we prove otherwise,” she noted, highlighting the bias she had to overcome.

She emphasized that women like her have not only persisted but thrived.

“We don’t just build roads. We build spaces where women belong—where our ideas are heard, our skills are valued, and where we are not ‘exceptions,’ but part of the norm,” she enthused candidy to receive strong applause from the attendees of the forum. .

She stressed that competence is determined by skill and determination, not gender, and that she and other women “stayed, worked, and proved (doubters) wrong” over the years.

The undersecretary also urged women professionals not to wait for permission to lead, stressing that women need not wait because every confident woman now is ready to act and they are not temporary participants in leadership but equal, permanent stakeholders.

“We are not guests in leadership. We are here to stay,” she added as she emphasized that part of her mission is to mentor and uplift other women in the industry.

“When we rise, we lift others with us. My legacy is to create a pathway for more women to follow," she asserted.

In ending, Cabral challenged organizations to build inclusive environments where the next generation of female engineers and leaders can continue breaking barriers and building their own legacies.