Gunman in slay of forester jumps bail, recaptured

CITY OF ILAGAN—The man, who was caught on camera shooting and killing a government forester in Cagayan last year, was arrested by the police on Thursday in San Mateo, Isabela, for jumping bail, police said.

Supt. Narciso Paragas, Isabela police spokesperson, confirmed that Adorable Caligan Jr. is in police custody but he declined to give details about his recapture.

Caligan had been out on bail after he surrendered to the police on Feb. 24, 2012 for the murder of forestry specialist Melania Dirain, who was shot and killed inside her office in Sanchez Mira, Cagayan, on the night of Feb. 7 that year. Caligan was identified through a closed circuit television camera footage.

Dirain, a widow with three children, was awarded posthumously with the Civil Service Commission’s Dangal ng Bayan plaque.

She joined the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 1989 as a forest guard. She rose from the ranks and served as the agency’s forestry specialist starting January 2010.

Dirain’s murder took place a year after Executive Order No. 23, President Aquino’s moratorium on logging, was enforced and froze all tree-harvesting and tree-cutting activities.

In Pangasinan, environment officials are watching five towns against forest poachers.

Logging activities in Mangatarem, Labrador, Aguilar, San Nicolas and Umingan are still being regularly monitored, according to Leduina Co, provincial environment and natural resources officer. “We know that illegal loggers can return, especially in the Mangatarem (Pangasinan) and Sta. Cruz (Zambales) areas,” she said.

Co defined illegal logging as massive cutting of trees. “There are still incidents of illegal cutting, which means people cut trees without permit, that’s why we apprehend them,” she said. Villamor Visaya Jr. with a report by Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon