Past illegal drug links behind shooting?

KORONADAL CITY — Was his alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade in the past be the reason why he was shot?

Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, chief of the Regional Special Operation Group in Region 12, raised this possibility in the shooting of Danilo Aguirre, 25, a correspondent of the weekly paper Mindanao Bulletin, after his relatives confirmed that he allegedly used to sell prohibited drugs.

Aguirre was shot and wounded with a caliber .45 pistol by a man wearing a helmet at about 8:15 a.m. last Tuesday while he was on his way back to the Mindanao Bulletin office in General Santos City after buying shampoo from a nearby convenience store.

Aguirre is under tight guard in a hospital in General Santos City.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Central Mindanao (Region 12) is also focusing its investigation into Aguirre’s alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade in General Santos City.

P02 Jun Castillon, of CIDG-Region 12, said the shooting had no relation with Aguirre’s work as a probationary correspondent of Mindanao Bulletin.

Castillon alleged that Aguirre had long been using and pushing prohibited drugs and probably wanted out of the illegal trade because he had found a new job.

The Jubelag family, who runs Mindanao Bulletin, said they were not aware of Aguirre’s past, noting that the probationary correspondent has been with the paper for just more than one month.

"Mabait at tahimik siya. Magaling mag-trabaho (He’s nice and quiet, and works well). He has the qualification and skills," Joseph Jubelag, editor-in-chief of Mindanao Bulletin, told The STAR.

But PO2 James Badilla, in-charge of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Central Mindanao’s intelligence and investigation division, said Aguirre’s name never cropped up in their watchlist.