DENR seeks NBI, PNP help on Cagayan forester's slay

MANILA, Philippines - Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje is appealing to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to fast-track the investigation into the killing of a female forester in Cagayan last Tuesday.

Paje said the killing of forester Melania Dirain could be related to the anti-illegal logging campaign in the region.  

“The investigation is still ongoing, but we could not just give conclusions on the incident,” Paje said.

Dirain, 47, was shot dead Tuesday night right inside her office by a lone gunman. She was a forestry specialist at the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in Sanchez Mira town in Cagayan.

Based on a radio message, Paje said Dirain, a mother of three and a widow, was gunned down while she was talking to a male office messenger.

Dirain died on the spot. Five spent shells from a caliber .45 pistol and four deformed slugs were recovered at the crime scene.

The gunman was reported to be wearing black pants, a black jacket and a scarf on his head.

Dirain joined the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 1989 as a forest guard. In January 2010, she was promoted as forestry specialist.

At the time of her death, Dirain was the team leader of the CENRO in the apprehension of undocumented lumber, flitches and other forest products in the area.

According to field reports, the most recent anti-illegal logging operation made by her team was last Jan. 27 when they apprehended in Alcala town, also in Cagayan province, at least 118 pieces of undocumented lumber of premium hardwood, with an estimated volume of 2,167 board feet, aboard a six-by-six truck owned by the PNP Regional Mobile Group. The confiscated forest products, including the truck, are presently impounded at the DENR’s field office in Alcala town.

In a report to Paje, DENR-Region 2 executive director Benjamin Tumaliuan said Dirain was the first female forester who he had designated to coordinate with local government units known to be illegal logging hot spots.

“Being a female, we thought they would not harm her,” Tumaliuan said in his report.

CCTV footage

Authorities may now have leads in the killing, as the gunman was caught on the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera in Dirain’s office.

“I have yet to see the video. But (the killer’s face) was said to be (identifiable),” said Senior Superintendent Mao Aplasca, Cagayan police director.

The CCTV video footage was reportedly brought to Manila for format conversion to further enhance its clarity.

The footage reportedly showed a man with the same physical attributes as Dirain’s killer walking back and forth in her office seemingly worried.

Authorities believe the man on the footage and the gunman may have been the same person.

Police said they are eyeing personal and job-related motives behind the killing.

“It is most possible that those who had her killed were among those affected by her implementation of the law,” Aplasca said.

Aplasca said Dirain was affected when timber smugglers used her forged signature, something she came to know only after an illegal timber shipment was intercepted somewhere in Ilocos.

“Since then, she had been very strict in issuing her signature,” Aplasca said.

Another angle being looked into, Aplasca said, was that the killing may have been personally motivated since she was reportedly in a relationship with someone. He, however, refused to elaborate.

Aplasca also said they were investigating a mysterious phone call minutes before the shooting, which agitated Dirain so much that she hurriedly returned to her office.

“We already have the phone log of the calls received by the victim and we believe that this will help us get to the bottom of the crime,” he said.

Dirain’s killing came a year after Executive Order 23 was enforced, imposing a moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in natural and residual forests across the country.

“It compels this administration to lead the way in strengthening protection for our environmental law enforcers, which is why the creation of an anti-illegal logging task force is one of the salient aspects of EO 23,” Paje said.

High on the agenda of the task force is to identify the protectors and financiers of illegal logging activities, “whether they be in government or not,” he added.

The task force is composed of the secretaries of the DENR, and the departments of Interior and Local Government and National Defense, the PNP chief, and the AFP chief of staff.            

Paje said laying down the national policy on logging moratorium is only the first step, but the real test of its bite, he said, “is in the enforcement in the battlefield where our co-workers who stand in the way of illegal loggers are the ones being silenced.”