A real tragic drama
Late night on February 7, a gunman barged into the office in Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in Sanchez Mira town. He made his way to one of the rooms and got in through an open door. He paced in and shot in the chest of the 46-year old forest management specialist Melanie Dirain. Still unsatisfied, he made his way back to the room and made sure he slain the victim with another shot. Dirain sustained several gunshot wounds from a 45-caliber pistol.
The murderer, who overlooked missed to shoot a fellow employee of the lady officer, walked out of the office and left the settlement the way he came in.
Secure with Security Systems?
This is caught on closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera. But ironic that law enforcement agencies still have little leads on Dirain’s assailant because his face was not easily identifiable as his head was partly covered by a hood.
In this event, we learn that security systems are not a guarantee for security. And only brave steps bring end to these crime acts.
Double Crime
Authorities said Dirain’s killing could be job-related and those behind it could be linked to illegal logging activities in Cagayan.
If the cause is the forester’s handing in the confiscation of some thousands of board feet of hot logs from Cagayan, then the perpetrators committed another crime... an environmental crime. Forests are under threat from cutting down the trees without permission. Illegal logging is a crime and is bad for people’s rights.
We all thought that curtailing illegal logging may seem relatively simple. We hire more forest officers to conduct patrols, strengthen fines, prosecute cases, and implement better tracking systems. And it is heartbreaking that the foresters and protectors who stand in the way of illegal loggers are the ones silenced through killings.
Condemns the crime
The sheer cruelty of this cold-blooded killing should have provoked furious condemnation from those unequivocally opposed to the targeting of foresters and protectors of nature.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources leads in strongly condemning the appalling attack to the forestry specialist and calls the government to act in order to bring those responsible individuals to trial.
The DENR has set aside P200,000 as reward for whoever could give information leading to the arrest of the killer. In fact, Director Benjamin Tumaliuan said that the CIDG has also taken a step by bringing the CCTV footage to Manila for visual enhancement and reproduced copies of the image of the gunman and posted it in all DENR offices in Cagayan Valley and neighboring regions.
How about us?
Do we need to be a forester to do our job of protecting Mother Earth? So what do we need to do to combat illegal logging? We are the consumers. We therefore need to buy certified sustainable timber and paper products. Let us close the door on illegally logged wood to enter our markets and homes. We need to keep acting together. We bring justice to the death of Forestry Specialist Melanie Duruin... We need to bring justice and end to the environmental crime committed against our trees... our forest... our Mother Earth.
