Killings of environmental workers alarmed palace

FANCY MEETING YOU HERE. President Aquino unveils a monument of his father, Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., at the park named after him in Quezon City on Friday during the launch of the National Greening Program that aims to plant 1.5 billion trees in some 1.5 million hectares nationwide from 2011 to 2016. Six Filipinos get environmental heroes awards. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Malacañang regards the murder of Malinao as “a serious incident,” said Secretary Herminio Coloma, head of the Presidential Communications Operations Office.

President Benigno Aquino III has directed the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation to “go after the perpetrators” of the Monday killing, his deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

Coloma said Mr. Aquino wanted “quick action to track and arrest the perpetrators.”

He pointed out that the protection of the environment was part of the Aquino administration’s 16-point covenant with the Filipino people.

“[On] the day that President Aquino honored environmental heroes … he also ordered the quick action on the killing of another environmental hero,” Coloma said, referring to the awards that Mr. Aquino presented on Friday to the families of other environmental workers killed in the line of duty.

Coloma said the President was touched by the martyrdom of the environment workers.

“This is a little known heroism. Usually, we only know about those involved in the operations against the insurgency. Little did we know that protecting the environment is also deadly,” Coloma said.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said Malinao’s family would be included in the financial support and scholarship program for the environmental awardees.

<strong>Environmental heroes</strong>

The President and Paje paid tribute to the heroism of four DENR workers, one volunteer and a chief of police during Friday’s launch of the National Greening Program that aims to plant 1.5 billion trees nationwide.

“Today, we also recognize six Filipinos, who did their tasks for the environment until the last second of their lives. Now, we are honoring them with the Environmental Heroes Award,” Mr. Aquino said in a speech.

“In recognition of their greatness, the families they left behind will receive financial assistance, livelihood support and scholarships from the government,” he said.

<strong>Special case</strong>

Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., spokesperson of the PNP, on Friday said efforts were underway to hunt down Roberto Canovas alias Obet, who was identified by a witness from a photo gallery of crime suspects as Malinao’s killer.

Cruz said in a phone interview that the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Laguna had also been called in to back the probe being conducted by the provincial police.

“This is a special case. We are definitely following this case very closely,” he said.

Cruz said that contrary to a report from the Bay police, it was not true that the case was “solved” upon the identification of Malinao’s suspected killer.

Chief Insp. Joseph Laureta, police chief of Bay, said in a May 11 report that “this case is considered solved” even though the suspect remained at large.

Cruz said certain conditions had to be met in closing a case, particularly the apprehension of the suspect.

He also said the inquiry into the mastermind or the motivation of Malinao’s killer would likely only develop after the suspect’s arrest.

“We are evidence-driven. We can rely only on what the suspect will tell us when we arrest him,” Cruz said.

Malinao, 49, who spent 25 years protecting Mt. Makiling from illegal settlers, was shot dead by a man on a motorcycle on Monday afternoon shortly after a court hearing on a case he had lodged against the squatters.

<strong>Workers’ rights activist</strong>

He worked for the Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystems, a unit of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB).

He was also the vice president of the UPLB chapter of the Organization of Non-Academic Personnel of UP, and a national council member of the union aside from being a leader of the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) in Laguna.

“We demand justice for Jojo Malinao,” PM chair Renato Magtubo said in a statement. “He was not only an advocate for environmental protection, he was also an activist for workers’ rights. In his case, in the line of fire is the place of honor. The UPLB has lost a loyal employee, and the working class movement, an able leader.”

<strong>Broad solution</strong>

Paje said the President was alarmed at the growing number of environmental workers killed while guarding the forests.

Paje said Mr. Aquino had directed the police and the military, as well as the environment, defense and interior departments to “find a broad solution to this problem.”

“We in the Aquino administration are making a promise that we will not let this continue,” Paje told the Inquirer.

He said that finding a solution to the problem was vital because the government was preparing to implement a massive six-year reforestation program this year.

Malinao was the second UP employee killed in the line of duty while protecting the environment. The first was botanist Leonard Co, who was killed in a purported crossfire between soldiers and rebels while conducting a forest survey in Kananga, Leyte province, last November. Co was also a consultant of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau.

<strong>Outnumbered</strong>

Paje lamented that more than 120 “green” workers, including forest rangers, inspectors and activists, had been killed or injured in the line of duty since the early 1990s.

He said DENR forest rangers and inspectors, all unarmed, were fair game for illegal loggers employing private armed guards in hot spots.

“We only have around 3,000 forest guards all over the country. That means the ratio is 1 to 4,500 hectares,” Paje said, adding that in the United States, there was one guard per 500 acres (or 202.3 hectares).

Because the government cannot secure and protect the forests by itself, Paje said he had proposed that civil society and forest communities be allowed to help.

“We are proposing social fencing. We will utilize the communities and the local government units,” he said.

In return, he said, communities would be included in the Aquino administration’s conditional cash transfer program.

<strong>Posthumous awardees</strong>

Those who were posthumously awarded were forest ranger Kenedy Eber Bayani, tree marker Rolando Sinday, forest ranger Jacinto Dragas and community environment and natural resources officer Pierre Gillo, who were shot dead on July 9, 2010, Dec. 6, 2010, Jan. 13, 2011 and Feb. 25, 2011, respectively.

The others were Nelson Luna, a volunteer at the DENR Forest Products Monitoring Station in Bislig, Surigao del Sur province, and Christopher Mazo, the police chief of Lianga, Surigao del Sur, who were killed in an ambush on Aug. 21, 2010.

The families of the awardees were given a plaque of recognition and financial assistance. Their school-age children were awarded scholarships.

“May their dedication and professionalism be a good example for all of us Filipinos,” Mr. Aquino said.