Threatened species

Here’s another threatened species in this country: the environment warrior. Last Wednesday afternoon in Tagbilaran, Bohol, as lawyer Mia Manuelita Cumba Mascarinas- Green was driving her children and their nanny home, two motorcycles blocked the vehicle’s path and opened fire.

The three children and nanny at least were spared, but Green did not stand a chance; police recovered about two dozen bullet casings at the crime scene. Green died in a hospital from gunshots to the head and body.

On Friday police tagged a hotel owner as the likely brains and said the gunmen had been identified and were being hunted down. The hotel owner was not identified, but speculation about the motive focused on Green’s work as a member of the Environmental Legal Assistance Center.

Green’s murder is just the latest targeting environment advocates and members of the legal profession. In Palawan, an environmental battleground, relatives of broadcast journalist Gerry Ortega, who was murdered in 2011, are still waiting for justice.

A local environment monitor counts 112 environment activists who have been murdered in the country in the past 15 years, with 12 killed in the seven months alone since President Duterte took office. The fatal attacks reportedly spiked in 2015 with 33 environment- related murders. This places the Philippines second only to Brazil as the most dangerous country for environment activists.

President Duterte professes to care about the environment and should be concerned about these deadly attacks. Environmental controversies are expected to continue to rage, and he must prevent their settlement through murder. Prevention is possible only if killers are identified and brought to justice.

Like the murders of journalists and left- leaning activists, however, most of the fatal attacks on environment advocates remain unsolved. The murder of an environment lawyer in the presence of her young children should spur more police effort to solve the killings.