Palace help sought in DSWD exec’s murder

COTABATO CITY — Central Mindanao’s political leaders called on President Arroyo yesterday to order the military and police intelligence communities to help local investigators identify the mastermind of Tuesday’s murder here of the Region 12 assistant director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The victim, 39-year-old Joel Maglunob, who assumed the second highest post of the DSWD’s Central Mindanao office only late last year, was known as a hardworking public official and a staunch advocate of transparency in the handling of relief funds earmarked for conflict-stricken communities in the region.

Two men shot Maglunob with caliber .45 automatics in front of his residence here at about 5:30 p.m. last Tuesday, just minutes after he had arrived from a conference with Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman in Davao City.

Senior Superintendent Peraco Macacua, city police chief, said they are now pursuing vital leads.

"We have gathered the testimonies of certain witnesses, including one who helped our cartographers come up with sketches of the gunmen," he said.

Macacua said he himself knew Maglunob as a respectful and generous man who would not hesitate to give even the last money in his wallet to his needy friends.

"It appears there can be no other motive for his murder. But we cannot expound on it in the meantime to ensure the secrecy of our efforts in really neutralizing the people responsible for his death," he said.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Parouk Hussin, who was Maglunob’s superior while he was still the executive assistant in the governor’s office prior to his DSWD stint, said he is ready to shell out "earnest money" in exchange for any information that would lead to the arrest of Maglunob’s killers.

"The National Bureau of Investigation must also promptly intervene and help the Cotabato police identify the people behind his murder. The ARMM government will flex its muscles to the hilt to see to it that they will rot in jail," Hussin said.

Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, chairman of the city peace and order council, said he has tasked all of the city’s 37 barangay chairmen to gather information on the perpetrators.

Soliman, who postponed her return yesterday to Manila from Davao City just to be with Maglunob’s family here, said she has requested the Philippine National Police to hasten the investigation into the killing.

"Maglunob’s untimely demise is a big loss to the DSWD. He was a very hardworking man, full of idealism and was very dedicated to his work," Soliman said.

Army Col. Felipe Tabas, commander of Task Group Cotabato, an anti-crime unit of the 6th Infantry Division, said their commander, Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, has ordered all of their intelligence units to track down the gunmen and their mastermind.

Maglunob is survived by his wife, Marivic, a daughter of a retired provincial agriculturist in Sultan Kudarat, and their five-year-old child, Jayvee.