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UPLB forest technician killed, suspect remains at large |
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KIM Quilinguing |
UP Los Baños (UPLB) Forest Technician Elpidio Malinao was shot dead in the afternoon of May 9 at the ADKOLORZ Sign Shop in Barangay Maitim, Bay, Laguna. A suspect has been identified by witnesses but is still at large.
UP President Alfredo Pascual went to the wake last May 11 to condole with Malinao’s wife and his five children. He said that the “dastardly act by forces who seem to be mindless of the need to preserve the biodiversity in our environment, has not deterred our people from doing their jobs.” Malinao, he said, “as an inspiration to others in the performance of their task” of protecting the Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve.
Malinao was a forestry technician at the Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystem (MCME) for the past 25 years. MCME is a component unit of the UPLB College of Forestry and Natural Resources.
According to sign shop owner Rey Cantosano, he was in the middle of a transaction with Malinao when a man wearing a black jacket, helmet and medical mask, walked up to the victim and shot him in the head. The man fled using a blue Honda Wave motorcycle with a faded plate number.
According to police reports, Malinao, along with Ben Rada and Atanacio Navarete also of MCME, was supposed to attend a hearing at the Bay Municipal Trial Court. They were scheduled to testify in Criminal Case No. 5173 against Armando Javier and Napoleon Oliveros.
Javier and Oliveros were accused of violating Section 69 (unlawful occupation or destruction of forest lands) of Presidential Decree No. 705 (Forestry Reform Code of the Philippines). The hearing, however, was rescheduled due to the absence of the presiding judge.
In a related development, the victim’s brother, Zacarias Malinao Jr., filed a murder case in the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office against Roberto Canovas. The latter is currently a suspect as he had been identified by a witness as the man who allegedly shot Malinao.
As of press time, Canovas remains at large.
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