MADDELA, Quirino , Philippines – Employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Cagayan Valley have raised a P350,000 reward for the arrest of the killers of a colleague in Quirino province on Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, thousands of people paid their last respects to slain Maddela community environment and natural resources officer Alfredo Almueda who was buried in this town’s public cemetery last Saturday.
Almueda, 59, was shot dead in his service pick-up while he and two of his men were manning a checkpoint in Barangay Villa Sur here before dawn of Jan. 1.
He reportedly had to leave his drinking buddies amid the New Year revelry after receiving a text message that illegally cut lumber was being transported via Maddela town.
Benjamin Tumaliuan, DENR regional executive director, said the reward came from the one-month representation allowances of the department’s senior officials in the region.
Almueda was the 26th DENR worker killed in the line of duty during the Aquino administration and the second in the region after forest specialist Melania Dirain was gunned down in her office in Cagayan last year.