Triggerman in Cagayan forester’s slay arrested

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines  â€“ The suspected gunman in last year’s killing of a woman forester of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Cagayan was arrested in a remote village in Cauayan City, Isabela yesterday.

Chief Superintendent Rodrigo de Gracia, Cagayan Valley police director, said arrested suspect Adorable Caliga Jr., 28, was tagged in the slay of forester Melania Dirain on Feb. 7, 2012.

Dirain, 42, who headed the forestry section of the DENR’s community environment and natural resources office in Sanchez Mira, Cagayan, was shot dead right in her office. 

The incident was caught on closed-circuit television camera, and the attacker was later identified as Caliga, who was subsequently charged for Dirain’s murder.

Caliga, however, was later released from police custody reportedly for lack of enough evidence, until his arrest in Cauayan City yesterday.   

Dirain’s colleagues believe that her killing had something to do with her anti-illegal logging efforts in the region. She was slain days after her office intercepted more than 20,000 board feet of hot logs along the Cagayan-Ilocos Norte border.

Caliga, now under the custody of the regional police office here, denied any involvement in the killing.

Dirain was posthumously awarded the Dangal ng Bayan Award by the Civil Service Commission for dedication to government service in September last year or seven months after her killing.

She was also posthumously named one of the Fr. Nery Satur Environmental Heroes in last year’s Earth Day celebration.