After he graduated, he was made an instructor in the College of Law and Liberal Arts of the Visayan Institute from 1929 to 1930.

[1] During his early years of school, he was brilliant as a student, distinguishing himself as an orator when he won the Osmeña Medal in an oratorical contest.

He also won the first prize Jocson Medal in an annual debate in the Philippine Law School.

He had a short stint as Secretary of National Defense and Communications from February 27 to July 11, 1945, under Sergio Osmeña.

Cabili died along with President Ramon Magsaysay and 23 others on a plane crash on March 17, 1957, at Mount Manunggal in Balamban, Cebu.