How murder suspect got DSWD project puzzles Judy

DSWD Secretary Dr. Judy M. Taguiwalo          INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

SOCIAL Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo has ordered field workers in Bukidnon to explain how a notorious paramilitary group leader and prime suspect in the murder of two lumad in Bukidnon recently became a recipient of a Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) school project.

Taguiwalo said that based on a report by the DSWD field office in Northern Mindanao (Region 10), Alde Salusad, known in the area as “Commander Butsoy,” led an armed attack on a lumad village in Sitio Alimpolos, Barangay Kawayan, in the municipality of San Fernando on July 30.

A pregnant woman identified as Makinit Gayoran was killed with a bullet to the chest  while eight other villagers, including five minors, were wounded.

The casualties were beneficiaries of the DSWD’s modified conditional cash transfer (CCT) program for indigenous people.

But Taguiwalo was surprised to find out that the same DSWD field office reported last April that Salusad was “one of the leaders of a community that is the beneficiary of a proposed three-classroom school building project” for the lumad.

The school to be built in Sitio Kiranggol, Barangay Dao in San Fernando is a project under the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services-National Community Driven Development (Kalahi CIDSS-NCDDP).

Taguiwalo said she had demanded an explanation from the DSWD personnel involved as to how Salusad was able to become a CIDSS-NCDDP beneficiary in 2016 when he was already a murder suspect in 2012.

She said Salusad had been identified as the prime suspect in the killing of Barangay Chair Jimmy Liguyon in Barangay Dao in San Fernando on March 5, 2012.

The victim was reportedly shot dead inside his house by Salusad with an Armalite rifle, accompanied by 15 armed men in military camouflage attire.

“And now he is again implicated in another killing,” Taguiwalo said.

“We now have to wonder if the warrant against Salusad for the murder of barangay captain Liguyon still stands,” she said. Dona Z. Pazzibugan