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CANTILAN, Surigao del Sur (MindaNews/02 May) – A Manobo chieftain who headed an anti-illegal logging group was shot dead early Thursday morning on his way home from a neighbor’s wake.
Nokie Calunsag, information officer of Green Mindanao Association Inc. said Datu Manuel “Kajugjug” Gardigo, a Manobo chieftain from Brgy. Agsam in the town of Lanuza, was shot by still unidentified gunmen five times in the different parts of his body at around 2 a.m.
Gardigo was chair of the Lanuza-based Kalasag, a group known for its anti-illegal logging campaign in the area and its opposition to the logging concession of Surigao Development Corporation in 2006 until the company’s closure last year.
A MindaNews source who asked not to be named for security reasons, said Gardigo was supposed go to the bank with his colleagues Thursday morning to withdraw an undisclosed amount for a tree-planting activity initiated by the National Greening Program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. (Vanessa L. Almeda/MindaNews)