Death of a botanist
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:43:00 12/25/2010
Filed Under: Research, insurgency, Military, Armed conflict
(Editor’s Note: This is a reconstruction of events that led to the killings of University of the Philippines botanist Leonardo Co, forester Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo on November 15 allegedly by troops of the Philippine Army.
Co and four of his companions were conducting research on tree biodiversity in the Manawan-Kananga Watershed in Leyte for the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. They were collecting specimen seedlings of endangered trees for replanting.
The reconstruction of events was made by a 33-member fact-finding mission organized by Agham-Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, a group of mostly UP teachers and graduates. The mission gathered testimonies and observations from people involved in the incident.
An Army unit claimed that Co, Cortez and Borromeo were killed in a crossfire with the New People’s Army. But Agham said there was no firefight, basing its conclusion on accounts of survivors.)
DAY OF SHOOTING
NOVEMBER 15
7 a.m.: Sofronio Cortez left his home wearing a long-sleeved shirt and an Energy Development Corp. (EDC) ID. He brought a backpack with him. Julius Borromeo (who was wearing a brown T-shirt and yellow raincoat) and Policarpio Balute, a guide, were fetched by a driver from EDC before breakfast at around 7 a.m. Borromeo brought a sack with him (where food and collected samples are placed). This was his first day for this job order.
Leonard Co and forester Ronino Gibe had breakfast at the canteen of the Leyte Geothermal Plant Facility (LGPF) staff house.
8 a.m.: Co and Gibe were fetched by a brown pick-up service vehicle and brought to the Environmental Management Division (EMD) office where they talked to Leonita P. Sabando. Co notified Sabando of the plan to go to Pad 403. [A pad is a source of steam which a geothermal plant uses for electricity generation.]
Pad 403 is a good forest site for collecting samples, according to the forest guards. Gibe went to the Community Partnership Department (CPD) and asked about ilang-ilang seedlings and informed Ali Sulla about the trip to Pad 403.
8:30 a.m.: Co, Gibe and Cortez visited the nursery at the LGPF from the EMD site. They were joined here by Balute and Borromeo. At around this time, EDC said that it informed the military through various channels about the team going to Pad 403.
9 a.m.: The team left the nursery and went to Pad 403 using the service vehicle.
At about 9:15 a.m.: The team went to Pad 411d from Pad 403 since Co was not sure that this was the site he earlier visited.
At about 9:30 a.m.: Co and his team went back to Pad 403 upon checking the map of Gibe.
At about 9:50 a.m.: The team reached Tree 5-01 (mayapis), recorded its location and marked the tree with orange paint as 5-01. Three meters away was Tree 5-02 (Syzigium spp.) and Balute marked it 5-02. About 59 meters away, the team found Tree 5-03 (tanguile) and walked around it.
At about 11 a.m.: It rained hard and Co decided to stop the survey. They then planned to go back to the nursery. Cortez then texted the driver to fetch the team.
At about 11:15 a.m.: Cortez received an SMS from the driver informing them that he was already at Pad 403. However, the rain abated and Co suggested that they continue to measure and survey the trees.
Balute was the one measuring the diameter of the trees, Gibe was the one recording the data, and Borromeo was in charge of bringing their food and other implements. Cortez and Co were examining the trees and leaves and identifying the species.
At about 11:30 a.m.: The team walked a few meters to Tree No. 4 and was in the process of deciding on its species by looking up at the leaves. The team had just finished recording the statistics of Tree No. 4. Balute noticed that there were fruit seeds on the ground. He also sensed that there were other people in the area but continued with his work.
Minutes before noon: On Gibe’s left was Borromeo. On Gibe’s right was Co then Cortez with Balute at the back of the tree (in reference to Gibe). Gibe had just taken the picture of the tree on his cell camera while Balute was about to scrape the bark of the fourth tree to have it numbered when gunshots were fired from where they were facing. The team was positioned at the front of those who were shooting.
One by one, they dropped to the ground and pleaded for the shooting to stop. Co shouted: “Maawa kayo. Hindi kami kalaban.” Balute yelled “Hindi po kami kalaban. Tama na po.” Gibe seconded these pleas by shouting the same.
But the gunfire did not stop. They were sure that whoever was firing heard them as they also heard one man from the group shooting at them saying: “Dia lang diay mo!” (“Nandito lang pala kayo!”) As Balute described it, there was rapid fire and some big explosions, causing the ground to shake.
At around noon: Balute decided to run away from the place and tried to convince the others to follow him. He was thinking that if he would not run, he would eventually die there. The four were still lying face down on the ground with only tree branches and roots for cover.
Balute was able to run away from the site because he was positioned at the back of a big tree, unlike the others who had nothing for cover.
Co was crying and complaining about his back. Cortez was still able to ask Co about his condition, to which Co replied that he was shot in the back. Gibe crept toward a large tree in front of him and hid behind its buttress. Gibe tried to call for help from his cell phone but was not able to. The gunfire lasted for 15 to 20 minutes.
The military said that a 19th Infantry Battalion unit led by First Lieutenant [Ronald] Odchimar chanced upon a unit of the New People’s Army (NPA) and exchanged fire with it. The “crossfire” lasted for some 10 to 12 minutes. Asked to characterize the exchanges, Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan said M16s were used by the NPA. The firing was continuous for that period. He did not say if there were other firearms used.
12:17 p.m.: Shortly before this, Balute reached Pad 403 where he caught up with the driver and had himself brought to the EDC office of the EMD. EDC received an SMS from Gibe at 12:17 p.m. From Gibe’s affidavit, the SMS was: “2long pinagbabaril po kami near 411d.” This was sent to Ali Sulla of the CPD in the LGPF.
12:30 p.m.: An SMS from Sulla was received on Co’s phone saying “Sir gud am, may encounter daw dyan ali muna kayo.” At around this time, Balute arrived in the EMD office and informed EDC about the shooting. This was EDC’s first confirmation of the incident. EDC then dispatched a vehicle to go to Pad 403.
12:38 p.m.: Another SMS was received on Co’s phone from Sabando, “Sir Lenard, Nino ds s lps. per security advise, pull out fr area immediately.”
The troops advanced closer to Co and the others who were then still lying face down on the ground. They approached the team from both sides. The soldiers were wearing camouflaged uniforms. Some of them approached Gibe who was then behind the buttress of a big tree.
At around this time, the EDC vehicle would have arrived at Pad 403. Gibe decided to break cover and identify himself. A soldier ordered him to come out while pointing a gun at him and saying: “May isa pa palang buhay dito.” Gibe raised his arms while asking for help for his companions. The others were not responding, except for Borromeo who was lying down and moaning.
One soldier said, “Wala na. ’Di na aabot sa ospital kasama mo.” This soldier then asked him about his two other armed companions and asked Gibe to show his weapons. Gibe denied that he or any of his four companions had arms. He said that one was able to escape and he knew that he had no weapons with him.
One soldier said: “P... ina, natalay tayo!” The soldier talking to Gibe ordered him to lie face down and close his eyes. Gibe complied as the soldier said that the former should not look at him and his companions. They saw the GPS unit and cell phone and took these from Gibe. The soldier ordered him to be still and silent while Gibe was continually asking for pity and help for his companions.
The soldiers then asked Gibe to identify himself and his group’s purpose in the area. Gibe answered that they were employees of EDC and he showed them his identification card. “Ako po si Ronino Gibe, taga Los Baños, Laguna, taga-EDC po ako at kasama ko po si Sir Leonard Co, UP professor po siya. Si Kuya Ponyong po EDC employee dito sa Leyte Geothermal.”
The soldier then asked Gibe about his engineer’s notebook, Co’s notes, GPS unit and map. Gibe answered that the team was doing a survey of the location of the trees. The soldier asked him further about the sketch that Co’s team had of the area. Gibe explained that they were marking the areas where they can get seeds, seedlings and wildings, and pointed to the group’s sack with the collected samples.
The soldier asked Gibe about his group’s contact and Gibe replied that he was part of EDC and his contact was Sabando from the EMD and Sulla from the CPD. The soldier stopped his interrogation but Gibe continued to plead. The soldier told him to keep quiet: “Wag kang maingay! Ligtas ka na!”
Minutes before 1 p.m.: Gibe saw Borromeo bleeding and heard him say that he was hit near the heart. Borromeo was asking the soldiers that they go down. Gibe shouted for help but no one from the soldiers answered. Borromeo was still able to ask Gibe about the latter’s condition before the soldiers berated Gibe to stop talking.
1:44 p.m.: At this point, Tutaan received an SMS from his higher ups to do a medivac immediately. Upon his receipt of the ground report, Tutaan said that he had already ordered a medivac.
At about 2 p.m.: For about two hours, Gibe was lying face down. He saw some soldiers meeting at a distance. He was then asked to stand up. A soldier then repeated the earlier questions posed to Gibe on his group’s purpose and coordination. The soldier asked Gibe if he knew of the military’s operation in the area and mentioned that the military had two companions who were killed [“at nalagasan kami ng dalawang kasama”].
Gibe answered in the negative and said that the team was with Cortez who was an EDC employee and that he knew that they had prior coordination with EDC. The soldier asked again about his contact and Gibe repeated that he was part of EDC and his contacts were Sabando and Sulla.
A soldier asked Gibe: “Imposible naman na hindi nyo nakita yung tatlong tao na may mga armas? Thirty minutes na kaming nagoobserba na palakad-lakad sila!”
Gibe said that his group did not see anyone and kept on asking for help for Borromeo.
The military then gave first aid to Borromeo, who heard them call his condition peklat. Gibe asked for his cell phone and this was when he got to talk to Sabando and relay details of the incident.
The soldiers then ordered Gibe to get up and proceed to Pad 403 near the Mahi-aw plant. Borromeo was laid down on a sack and brought down by the soldiers. Gibe was showing the tree markings they made along the way down to Pad 403.
At about 3 p.m.: Gibe saw the vehicles of EDC arrive together with an ambulance at Pad 403. He boarded a service vehicle of EDC and was brought to Osfa Hospital in Ormoc City. He heard that Borromeo died at the pad. The soldiers then brought down the bodies of Co and Cortez to Pad 403. EDC then brought the bodies to V. Rama Funeral Homes.
At about 4 p.m.: Tutaan declared the site a “no-crisis zone” but mopping-up operations by the military continued after that.
4:30 p.m.: The chief of police, a certain Senior Inspector Camacho, learned of the event from the Kananga vice mayor. He confirmed the information from the 19th IB but the police were not allowed access to the site “kasi may hot pursuit operation.”
SOCO VISIT
NOV. 16: The police Soco team was able to do a site visit only at this time. EDC did not join the police team.
NOV. 17: EDC was able to access the site.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
The genius of Leonardo L. Co: The people's scientist and professor
STAR SCIENCE By Perry S. Ong, Ph.D.
The Philippine Star
December 16, 2010 12:00 AM
Since Leonard L. Co died last Nov. 15 as a result of gunshot wounds from a supposed crossfire between the Philippine Army and an unnamed armed group, numerous eulogies, tributes and accolades had been expressed largely by the common people but by scientists as well who are familiar with his work – people whose lives Leonard’s knowledge had touched. He was a world-class plant taxonomist bar none. He was an irreparable loss to the country and to his discipline. Many have mourned and grieved his sudden demise. His death was also equated to the loss of a national treasure. There even have been calls for him to be given a posthumous PhD degree (honoris causa). The two houses of Congress have passed resolutions calling for an impartial investigation on his death and acknowledging the loss to the country his death has caused.
But who is Leonard L. Co? Does he deserve all of these praises? If yes, how come it is emerging only now? And what can the mainstream scientific community do about this? It is easy to be swayed by the outpouring of emotions generated by his untimely death and the sense of loss, so it is best to know the man behind the name before we get carried away.
At the time of his death, he was a museum researcher at the Institute of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). He was in Kananga, Leyte as a biodiversity expert sent by the Energy Development Corp., (EDC) for its tree legacy program BINHI looking for mother trees. Two of his team members were also killed.
A quick scan of his brief resumé reveals his publications: 13 peer-reviewed articles of which he was senior author in three; six books of which he was the senior author in four. His first publication was in 1977 (remember, he entered UPD in 1972). His last one was in 2009, less than a year before his death. One of several ongoing writing projects he was doing included “The Enumeration of Philippine Flowering Plants” which he intended as an update on the seminal book on Philippine Plants written by Elmer Merrill who made the initial listing of Philippine Plants when the US Occupation of the country began at the turn of the 20th century. Early estimates indicate that this will take at least five years to complete with a full staff complement working fulltime! He was really a man in a hurry. Friends and colleagues have committed to complete this work, considered as one of Leonard’s unfinished masterpieces.
No one in the mainstream scientific community would have considered Leonard one of them, since he did not get his Bachelor of Science Degree in Botany from the UPD until the summer of 2008. Hence he could not even be hired to teach until then. But this did not stop him from teaching. He always shared whatever he knew. He could be the most temperamental person in the room exploding in anger every now and then when people failed to do what they were supposed to do, but when a student approached him regarding a taxonomic issue, he would be ready to provide the answer and guidance. That explains the outpouring of grief and love from people who had experienced dealing with him. His name will not be seen as the adviser of any PhD or Master of Science degree graduate, yet I personally know of at least two recent PhD graduates that he had mentored (and one more nearing completion) since he could not be appointed a member of graduate committees. He might not have had the formal appointment as a professor but people considered him one because of their recognition of his scholarly outputs.
People would consider him brilliant but they had reservations to consider him as a scientist since he had no degree then, yet this did not stop him from doing research, as his publication outputs attest to. One of the ways we often did to tease him and test him was to ask him a particular taxonomic problem and ask him the reference to this question. He would reply and provide the page number of the reference where the answer could be found. His swordplay with the living greats in plant taxonomy is legendary wherein he was able to argue with these icons and they could only nod in agreement and accept his analysis. I personally saw international delegates bringing him specimens for identification or confirmation. He was highly regarded by the international community. They expressed that Leonard’s death is a great loss to the world of plant taxonomy.
One of Leonard’s frustrations was his awareness of mediocre people who could not hold a candle to his broad encyclopedic knowledge and vast field experience except that these people had a “PhD” after their names and he did not even have a BS degree. Because of this, he would often be bypassed because of his then academic deficiency. Society has not figured out a way to tap geniuses like Leonard.
His last publication in 2006, wherein he was the senior author, was the book “Forest Trees of Palanan, Philippines: A Study in Population Ecology.” This was as part of the book series of the Center for Tropical Forest Science of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution (CTFS-STRI). He was very proud of this achievement, as it was the first of its kind in the Philippines; it was the sixth in the book series that CTFS-STRI had put out and it was supported by the academe, government, non-government organization conservation groups and the private sector (see Figure 1).
It is but fitting to end this with Leonard in his own words, with the dedication he wrote in the book he gave me during the launching of his last book:
“Perry,
The legacy that you have bequeathed to CI-P and its partners is never forgotten. It is being continued and raised to a higher level by a new breed of committed young field biologists – many of whom are proud authors of this work.
The birth of this book is thus a fitting celebration of that legacy: the spirit of partnership and collaboration; of mentoring; of passion for excellence and abhorrence of mediocrity; and most especially of dreaming, innovating and fighting tooth and nail for the cause of biodiversity conservation!”
Signed,
Leonard + five other junior co-authors”
Nobody was more qualified to say those words about excellence and mediocrity. He lived those words until he was gunned down doing the work he loved, identifying tree species in the middle of a remnant forest he was trying to restore. How ironic.
Dr. Perry S. Ong is a professor of Wildlife Biology and the director at the Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines Diliman (IB-UPD). He is into biodiversity conservation research and is currently focusing on DNA-barcoding of Philippine biodiversity as well as the ecology of urban biodiversity. Together with the other staff members of IB-UPD, he is undertaking research on the biodiversity of five geothermal production fields of the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) in Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Occidental, Valencia City in Negros Oriental, Kananga in Leyte, Mt. Apo in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato in Mindanao and Bacon-Manito (BacMan) in Sorgogon. E-mail him at ongperry@yahoo.com.
The Philippine Star
December 16, 2010 12:00 AM
Since Leonard L. Co died last Nov. 15 as a result of gunshot wounds from a supposed crossfire between the Philippine Army and an unnamed armed group, numerous eulogies, tributes and accolades had been expressed largely by the common people but by scientists as well who are familiar with his work – people whose lives Leonard’s knowledge had touched. He was a world-class plant taxonomist bar none. He was an irreparable loss to the country and to his discipline. Many have mourned and grieved his sudden demise. His death was also equated to the loss of a national treasure. There even have been calls for him to be given a posthumous PhD degree (honoris causa). The two houses of Congress have passed resolutions calling for an impartial investigation on his death and acknowledging the loss to the country his death has caused.
But who is Leonard L. Co? Does he deserve all of these praises? If yes, how come it is emerging only now? And what can the mainstream scientific community do about this? It is easy to be swayed by the outpouring of emotions generated by his untimely death and the sense of loss, so it is best to know the man behind the name before we get carried away.
At the time of his death, he was a museum researcher at the Institute of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). He was in Kananga, Leyte as a biodiversity expert sent by the Energy Development Corp., (EDC) for its tree legacy program BINHI looking for mother trees. Two of his team members were also killed.
A quick scan of his brief resumé reveals his publications: 13 peer-reviewed articles of which he was senior author in three; six books of which he was the senior author in four. His first publication was in 1977 (remember, he entered UPD in 1972). His last one was in 2009, less than a year before his death. One of several ongoing writing projects he was doing included “The Enumeration of Philippine Flowering Plants” which he intended as an update on the seminal book on Philippine Plants written by Elmer Merrill who made the initial listing of Philippine Plants when the US Occupation of the country began at the turn of the 20th century. Early estimates indicate that this will take at least five years to complete with a full staff complement working fulltime! He was really a man in a hurry. Friends and colleagues have committed to complete this work, considered as one of Leonard’s unfinished masterpieces.
No one in the mainstream scientific community would have considered Leonard one of them, since he did not get his Bachelor of Science Degree in Botany from the UPD until the summer of 2008. Hence he could not even be hired to teach until then. But this did not stop him from teaching. He always shared whatever he knew. He could be the most temperamental person in the room exploding in anger every now and then when people failed to do what they were supposed to do, but when a student approached him regarding a taxonomic issue, he would be ready to provide the answer and guidance. That explains the outpouring of grief and love from people who had experienced dealing with him. His name will not be seen as the adviser of any PhD or Master of Science degree graduate, yet I personally know of at least two recent PhD graduates that he had mentored (and one more nearing completion) since he could not be appointed a member of graduate committees. He might not have had the formal appointment as a professor but people considered him one because of their recognition of his scholarly outputs.
People would consider him brilliant but they had reservations to consider him as a scientist since he had no degree then, yet this did not stop him from doing research, as his publication outputs attest to. One of the ways we often did to tease him and test him was to ask him a particular taxonomic problem and ask him the reference to this question. He would reply and provide the page number of the reference where the answer could be found. His swordplay with the living greats in plant taxonomy is legendary wherein he was able to argue with these icons and they could only nod in agreement and accept his analysis. I personally saw international delegates bringing him specimens for identification or confirmation. He was highly regarded by the international community. They expressed that Leonard’s death is a great loss to the world of plant taxonomy.
One of Leonard’s frustrations was his awareness of mediocre people who could not hold a candle to his broad encyclopedic knowledge and vast field experience except that these people had a “PhD” after their names and he did not even have a BS degree. Because of this, he would often be bypassed because of his then academic deficiency. Society has not figured out a way to tap geniuses like Leonard.
His last publication in 2006, wherein he was the senior author, was the book “Forest Trees of Palanan, Philippines: A Study in Population Ecology.” This was as part of the book series of the Center for Tropical Forest Science of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution (CTFS-STRI). He was very proud of this achievement, as it was the first of its kind in the Philippines; it was the sixth in the book series that CTFS-STRI had put out and it was supported by the academe, government, non-government organization conservation groups and the private sector (see Figure 1).
It is but fitting to end this with Leonard in his own words, with the dedication he wrote in the book he gave me during the launching of his last book:
“Perry,
The legacy that you have bequeathed to CI-P and its partners is never forgotten. It is being continued and raised to a higher level by a new breed of committed young field biologists – many of whom are proud authors of this work.
The birth of this book is thus a fitting celebration of that legacy: the spirit of partnership and collaboration; of mentoring; of passion for excellence and abhorrence of mediocrity; and most especially of dreaming, innovating and fighting tooth and nail for the cause of biodiversity conservation!”
Signed,
Leonard + five other junior co-authors”
Nobody was more qualified to say those words about excellence and mediocrity. He lived those words until he was gunned down doing the work he loved, identifying tree species in the middle of a remnant forest he was trying to restore. How ironic.
* * *
Dr. Perry S. Ong is a professor of Wildlife Biology and the director at the Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines Diliman (IB-UPD). He is into biodiversity conservation research and is currently focusing on DNA-barcoding of Philippine biodiversity as well as the ecology of urban biodiversity. Together with the other staff members of IB-UPD, he is undertaking research on the biodiversity of five geothermal production fields of the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) in Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Occidental, Valencia City in Negros Oriental, Kananga in Leyte, Mt. Apo in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato in Mindanao and Bacon-Manito (BacMan) in Sorgogon. E-mail him at ongperry@yahoo.com.
Friday, December 10, 2010
AFP ready to file raps vs soldiers in botanist's death
By Alexis Romero
The Philippine Star
December 10, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The military yesterday expressed readiness to file charges against soldiers who committed errors that led to the death of a top botanist in Leyte last month.
“We are presently investigating the incident with the possibility of filing administrative charges,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said in a phone interview.
Mabanta said they are willing to cooperate with groups which will file criminal charges against their troops. He gave assurances that they would not tolerate the misdeeds of soldiers found guilty of misdeeds.
“We believe the most important thing is to know the truth. If they (complainants) have something to say, then they have to present evidence so these will hold water in court,” Mabanta said.
Mabanta was asked to react to the findings of Agham, a team of scientists who claimed that there was no crossfire when botanist Leonardo Co and his two companions were slain in Leyte last Nov. 15.
Co, his local guide Julius Borromeo, and forest guard Sofronio Cortez were killed as they were gathering seedlings in a forest in Kanangga, Leyte.
The military claimed the three were killed in crossfire between soldiers of the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion and communist rebels.
Some sectors, however, suspect that the three were shot after soldiers mistook them for members of the New People’s Army.
Agham said evidence gathered at the site showed that the gunshots came from one direction and that was from the vantage point of where the government troops were positioned.
“The only consistent explanation for these key observations would be that the military was positioned on top of the ridge and firing toward Leonardo Co and company. There was no indication of any crossfire,” Agham chairman Giovanni Tapang said last Wednesday.
Agham’s conclusions contradicted the initial findings of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, which said the rebels scampered toward the location of Co and his companions during the clash.
AFP Central Command spokesman Maj. Christopher Tampos said their soldiers are ready to answer all the allegations against them.
“If the soldiers involved in the operation are accountable, then we will abide by the results of the investigation. If it is necessary to file cases against our soldiers, then our troops are ready to answer the charges,” he said.
Tampos claimed they have evidence that would prove that there was firefight when Co and his companions were killed.
The Philippine Star
December 10, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The military yesterday expressed readiness to file charges against soldiers who committed errors that led to the death of a top botanist in Leyte last month.
“We are presently investigating the incident with the possibility of filing administrative charges,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said in a phone interview.
Mabanta said they are willing to cooperate with groups which will file criminal charges against their troops. He gave assurances that they would not tolerate the misdeeds of soldiers found guilty of misdeeds.
“We believe the most important thing is to know the truth. If they (complainants) have something to say, then they have to present evidence so these will hold water in court,” Mabanta said.
Mabanta was asked to react to the findings of Agham, a team of scientists who claimed that there was no crossfire when botanist Leonardo Co and his two companions were slain in Leyte last Nov. 15.
Co, his local guide Julius Borromeo, and forest guard Sofronio Cortez were killed as they were gathering seedlings in a forest in Kanangga, Leyte.
The military claimed the three were killed in crossfire between soldiers of the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion and communist rebels.
Some sectors, however, suspect that the three were shot after soldiers mistook them for members of the New People’s Army.
Agham said evidence gathered at the site showed that the gunshots came from one direction and that was from the vantage point of where the government troops were positioned.
“The only consistent explanation for these key observations would be that the military was positioned on top of the ridge and firing toward Leonardo Co and company. There was no indication of any crossfire,” Agham chairman Giovanni Tapang said last Wednesday.
Agham’s conclusions contradicted the initial findings of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, which said the rebels scampered toward the location of Co and his companions during the clash.
AFP Central Command spokesman Maj. Christopher Tampos said their soldiers are ready to answer all the allegations against them.
“If the soldiers involved in the operation are accountable, then we will abide by the results of the investigation. If it is necessary to file cases against our soldiers, then our troops are ready to answer the charges,” he said.
Tampos claimed they have evidence that would prove that there was firefight when Co and his companions were killed.
Whitewash in The Investigation On The Deaths of Co, Cortez, and Borromeo Feared
Bulatlat.com
Published on December 10, 2010
The physical evidence gathered in the fact finding mission revealed that the trajectories of bullets were coming from and going to only one direction, refuting the military’s claim that there was a supposed gun battle between the military and members of NPA.
KANANGA, Leyte– Leonard Co, Sofronio Cortez and Julio Borromeo were not caught in a gun battle between the New People’s Army (NPA) and the19th Infantry Battalion on that fateful day of Nov. 15. This was the main finding of the independent body that recently conducted a fact finding mission from Nov. 26 to 28 in Kananga, Leyte. The report was presented in a press conference, Dec. 8.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
The citizens’ based fact finding mission was led by Agham (Science and Technology for the People), an organization of progressive scientists dedicated to making science serve the people, not the party list group. Scientists, environmentalists, colleagues of Co and cause-oriented groups also joined the fact finding mission.
Based on news reports, Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, commanding officer of the 19th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army, said the Nov. 15 incident was a legitimate military operation and Co’s team was caught in the crossfire. Two survivors, on the other hand, said no exchange of gunfire happened .
The physical evidence gathered in the fact finding mission revealed that the trajectories of bullets were coming from and going to only one direction, refuting the military’s claim that there was a supposed gun battle between the military and members of NPA.
Survivor’s Account
On Nov. 15, Co together with four other companions resumed their work. Based on the account of officials of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), at about 9:00 a.m., Co decided to go to W403 pad, which is out of the itinerary. (Click here for complete fact finding report). A pad is a forested area inside the EDC complex where research studies are mostly being conducted.
“But this is not out of the ordinary, according to the EDC,” said Dr. Giovanni Tapang, national chairman of Agham and convener of Justice for Leonard Co Movement, who joined the fact finding mission team. The EDC, said Tapang, was informed of Co’s decision.
W403 pad is where the incident happened. The EDC complex is also where the Leyte Geothermal Facility is operating. In a sworn statement by Ronino Gibe, 24, survivor in the shooting incident, at about 9:00 a.m. their team reached W403 pad. Their team was composed of Co, Cortez, Borromeo, Gibe and another survivor Policarpio Balute.
Gibe said it rained while they were conducting their work. They were surveying the forest, measuring the trees and marking them. Gibe said that at about 10 meters from the parking area (called well pad) of W403, they saw a big tree and it became the starting point of the survey. The big tree or Tree No. 1 (Mayapis tree) was marked with 5-01, three meters away they saw Tree No. 2 (Syzigium tree) and marked it with 5-02. About 59 meters from Tree No. 1 is where they saw Tree No. 3 (Tanguile tree).
In Tree No. 3 they saw a fruit called Talisay-gubat but could not find its mother tree. It continued to rain so Co decided to stop the survey. By then, Balute texted the driver, a certain Romy Momo, to fetch them at the W403 pad. But suddenly, the rain stopped and Co decided to continue working together with the rest of the group. A few steps away, they saw Tree No. 4, which they had a hard time identifying.
“Because the whole group was helping to identify the tree, I noticed that we were all looking up Tree No. 4 to see its leaves,” Gibe said in his statement. He said during that time, Borromeo was standing to his left and Co at his right side. Beside Co was Cortez and at the back of the tree was Balute. “After taking a picture of the tree, I put my cellphone back in my jacket. Just before 12:00 noon, we heard a burst of gunfire coming from behind us…we dived to the ground when we heard the gunfire. Then I heard someone shout, ‘We are not enemies, please stop.’ That voice sounded like Carping’s (Balute).”
According to Gibe, the gunfire lasted about 20 minutes. He crawled and hid in the buttress of a tree near Tree No. 4. When the gunfire stopped, he saw men in military uniform with firearms and ammunition approaching their place. After the gunfire stopped, Borromeo was not moving while Co and Cortez were already dead.
Balute was able to run away from the place of the shooting.
Gibe said if he moved, he could have been hit. “I didn’t have the opportunity to run because I felt that the guns were aimed low because there were bullets hitting the tree where I was hiding. I could see the bark of the trees being sliced by bullets.”
When he saw the soldiers approaching, Gibe went out with his hands up and said, “I am here; They are with me, we are not enemies!”
Then the soldiers told him to step out of hiding and put down his firearm. They asked him where his two companions carrying firearms went. He said he had no firearm nor his companions. He pleaded to the soldiers to bring his wounded companions to the hospital, but he was ignored. Then Gibe was told by the soldier to “lie down and look away.”
Borromeo Still Alive After Shooting
Borromeo was still alive after the shooting, according to Gibe. When he pleaded with the soldiers to bring his companions to the hospital, Gibe said, he was told, “No, your companions would no longer make it to the hospital.” Instead of bringing the wounded to the hospital, Gibe was asked questions such as if they really coordinated with the EDC and what they were doing in the area. He noticed that the soldiers seemed to be discussing what to do. The meeting of the soldiers and the occasional questioning lasted for two hours.
The soldiers told him that they have been in the area observing for 30 minutes when they saw three men with firearms walking in the area where Co’s team was working. The soldiers said they were conducting a military operation in the area and that two of their colleagues were killed. Gibe told the soldiers what they were doing in the area and named his contacts in the EDC. The soldiers replied, “Do not make any noise! You are already safe.”
For two hours, Borromeo was left lying on the ground with a gunshot wound near his heart. Gibe said he could still hear Borromeo moaning and moving. It was only by around 2:00 p.m. when the soldiers administered first aid on Borromeo. Gibe was told to get up and proceed to pad W403. At around 3:00 p.m., Gibe heard from the soldiers that Borromeo was already dead. The bodies of Co and Cortez were also brought down to the pad.
“The failure of the military unit involved to provide immediate medical attention and hospital treatment to Borromeo prolonged his agony and ultimately led to his death. The military waited at least one hour after they approached Gibe before bringing down the bodies and the survivor despite repeated requests from Gibe and Borromeo, who was still alive then,” the team said.
Military’s Defense, Incredible
It was a chance encounter, Tutaan told the fact finding team. Tutaan even claimed that an NPA was wounded in the armed clash. He also told the fact finding team that there was an exchange of gunfire and that the NPA fired first.
Tutaan said that at around 12:30 noon, a unit from the 19th IB led by 1Lt. Ronald Odchimar chanced upon the NPA, and an exchange of gunfire ensued. According to Tutaan, the gun battle lasted for some 10 to 12 minutes.
Tutaan said his unit was concealed and was in a better position. He said his unit was fired at and they only fired back. During the gunfight, Tutaan said, the “enemy” retreated with one of them wounded. It was only after the gunfight, Tutaan claimed, that his unit realized that there were civilians in the area. These civilians were the group of Co.
According to the team’s report “Even supposing that it was the NPA who were on the ridge and the military was positioned at a higher vantage point – which was difficult to reach – to the east, there were no indications of any bullet hitting the higher vantage point from the direction of the ridge.”
The fact finding team measured the distance from the tree where Co and his group were working to the vantage position of the military. It is only about 50 to 60 meters. (Refer to video below.) The distance from the military’s position to the parking area of W403 pad is only 200 meters. Thus, the team concluded, it was impossible for the soldiers not to see and hear Co and his companions.
Tutaan told the fact finding team that his unit’s operation was legitimate because it was authorized by the command of the brigade.
But based on the team’s observations during the site visit, the following were concluded: The direction of the bullet marks on the trees originated from a vantage point on the ridge above Co and his team; the direction of fire was concentrated on the area where Leonard and his four other companions were standing; Tree no.4 was hit three times and the large tree where Gibe hid had six bullet marks.
Tutaan said they received an intelligence report on Nov. 12 that there were sightings of members of the NPA in the general area outside the periphery of the EDC complex. On Nov. 14, Tutaan said, he started to send several units of the Army in search of the NPA. Tutaan said their national mandate is to secure the strategic energy industry. Their area of responsibility, said Tutaan, is outside the periphery of the EDC complex. However, the shooting took place inside the EDC complex.
Tutaan said his unit has been closely coordinating with the EDC for quite some time because the area outside the EDC complex, around 10 to 12 kilometers away, is a known “play ground” of the NPA. Tutaan said they follow a “protocol” with the company. However, Tutaan did not elaborate on the supposed protocol. He also said information about their combat operations are regularly shared with the EDC.
However, Manuel Paete, EDC resident manager, said that on Nov. 15 they did not receive any report from the military nor were they informed that there was an operation by the military.
Mayor Elmer Codilla of Kananga, Leyte also said there were reports that NPA guerrillas are roaming within the vicinity of EDC. Cadilla, however, could not answer how they verified such reports.
But Borromeo’s family, who are residents of barangay (village) Tongonan, Ormoc Leyte, said they are not aware of the presence of the NPA in the area.
The EDC complex is 200 hectares, from Kananga it extends up to Ormoc City comprised of three barangays, according to Codilla. The EDC complex as well as the adjacent barangays are mountainous areas.
Estelita Pañga Bayo, 67, godmother of Borromeo, and Borromeo’s wife refuted Tutaan’s statement that the area near the EDC complex is the “playground” of the NPA. “I have lived here for 67 years. There has not been a single encounter between the NPA and military in this area nor does the NPA operate here. Generally our place is peaceful.” She added that a week before Nov. 15, EDC hired at least 30 workers from Basey, Samar to harvest rattan inside the EDC complex.
Co arrived at the EDC complex on Nov. 9 for the “Taxonomic Identification, Collection, Procurement and Management of Seeds, Wildings and Seedlings and Assistance in Establishment of Partnerships and Mother Trees for the Binhi Tree for the Future” program of the EDC. According to Paete and Ernie Calumpit, head security of the EDC, Co had already visited areas in the complex since Nov. 10. From Nov. 10 to 13, Co had visited and worked in various pads.
Whitewash?
Justice for Leonard Co Movement feared a possible whitewash in the investigation on the deaths of Co, Cortez, and Borromeo. Tapang said a team from the Philippine National Police-Scene of the Crime Operatives (PNP-SOCO) was able to visit the site 20 hours after the incident and no one from the EDC joined the SOCO. It was only on Nov. 17 that the EDC was able to access the site.
“What happened during the 20 hours between the incident and the arrival of the SOCO team?” the team asked. “The military was present at the incident site all the time since the shooting until after they brought down the bodies. The police was also not allowed to go to the site immediately since the military said they were conducting hot pursuit operations. This failure to secure the site early by the police and the EDC is glaring and puts the reports of the SOCO and the military into a questionable position.”
Tapang said the EDC staff also failed to explain why no EDC personnel were present during the SOCO investigation.
Recommendations
The team expressed concerns regarding the safety of the survivors and their families. During the wake of Borromeo, the victim’s family was visited by men asking rudely for the whereabouts of another survivor, Balute. There were also motorcycle-riding men who tailed some of the team members who visited the communities where the families of the victims and survivors lived. The team called on groups and institutions to provide sanctuary for the survivors and their families.
The team recommends the following:
Those who are responsible for the deaths of Co and his companions, from all levels of the military, should be investigated and appropriate charges be filed against them.
The 19th IB should release the names of the members of the squad and platoon, including their commanding officers, involved in the shooting of Co and company. The firearms of these officers and enlisted men should be secured and surrendered to the proper authorities;
The liability of the military personnel who failed to give Borromeo immediate medical attention and bring him to a hospital should also be fully investigated and appropriate charges be filed against them;
The EDC should clarify the protocols for their communications and coordination with the military especially since there are still other activities [similar to what Co's team was doing] which the EDC continues to conduct;
The EDC should also clarify the extent of their work area and when they would be responsible for the security of their own personnel.
The EDC, the 19th IB and the PNP should make accessible all documents that would further shed light on the incident. (Bulatlat.com)
Published on December 10, 2010
The physical evidence gathered in the fact finding mission revealed that the trajectories of bullets were coming from and going to only one direction, refuting the military’s claim that there was a supposed gun battle between the military and members of NPA.
KANANGA, Leyte– Leonard Co, Sofronio Cortez and Julio Borromeo were not caught in a gun battle between the New People’s Army (NPA) and the19th Infantry Battalion on that fateful day of Nov. 15. This was the main finding of the independent body that recently conducted a fact finding mission from Nov. 26 to 28 in Kananga, Leyte. The report was presented in a press conference, Dec. 8.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
The citizens’ based fact finding mission was led by Agham (Science and Technology for the People), an organization of progressive scientists dedicated to making science serve the people, not the party list group. Scientists, environmentalists, colleagues of Co and cause-oriented groups also joined the fact finding mission.
Based on news reports, Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, commanding officer of the 19th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army, said the Nov. 15 incident was a legitimate military operation and Co’s team was caught in the crossfire. Two survivors, on the other hand, said no exchange of gunfire happened .
The physical evidence gathered in the fact finding mission revealed that the trajectories of bullets were coming from and going to only one direction, refuting the military’s claim that there was a supposed gun battle between the military and members of NPA.
Survivor’s Account
On Nov. 15, Co together with four other companions resumed their work. Based on the account of officials of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), at about 9:00 a.m., Co decided to go to W403 pad, which is out of the itinerary. (Click here for complete fact finding report). A pad is a forested area inside the EDC complex where research studies are mostly being conducted.
“But this is not out of the ordinary, according to the EDC,” said Dr. Giovanni Tapang, national chairman of Agham and convener of Justice for Leonard Co Movement, who joined the fact finding mission team. The EDC, said Tapang, was informed of Co’s decision.
W403 pad is where the incident happened. The EDC complex is also where the Leyte Geothermal Facility is operating. In a sworn statement by Ronino Gibe, 24, survivor in the shooting incident, at about 9:00 a.m. their team reached W403 pad. Their team was composed of Co, Cortez, Borromeo, Gibe and another survivor Policarpio Balute.
Gibe said it rained while they were conducting their work. They were surveying the forest, measuring the trees and marking them. Gibe said that at about 10 meters from the parking area (called well pad) of W403, they saw a big tree and it became the starting point of the survey. The big tree or Tree No. 1 (Mayapis tree) was marked with 5-01, three meters away they saw Tree No. 2 (Syzigium tree) and marked it with 5-02. About 59 meters from Tree No. 1 is where they saw Tree No. 3 (Tanguile tree).
In Tree No. 3 they saw a fruit called Talisay-gubat but could not find its mother tree. It continued to rain so Co decided to stop the survey. By then, Balute texted the driver, a certain Romy Momo, to fetch them at the W403 pad. But suddenly, the rain stopped and Co decided to continue working together with the rest of the group. A few steps away, they saw Tree No. 4, which they had a hard time identifying.
“Because the whole group was helping to identify the tree, I noticed that we were all looking up Tree No. 4 to see its leaves,” Gibe said in his statement. He said during that time, Borromeo was standing to his left and Co at his right side. Beside Co was Cortez and at the back of the tree was Balute. “After taking a picture of the tree, I put my cellphone back in my jacket. Just before 12:00 noon, we heard a burst of gunfire coming from behind us…we dived to the ground when we heard the gunfire. Then I heard someone shout, ‘We are not enemies, please stop.’ That voice sounded like Carping’s (Balute).”
According to Gibe, the gunfire lasted about 20 minutes. He crawled and hid in the buttress of a tree near Tree No. 4. When the gunfire stopped, he saw men in military uniform with firearms and ammunition approaching their place. After the gunfire stopped, Borromeo was not moving while Co and Cortez were already dead.
Balute was able to run away from the place of the shooting.
Gibe said if he moved, he could have been hit. “I didn’t have the opportunity to run because I felt that the guns were aimed low because there were bullets hitting the tree where I was hiding. I could see the bark of the trees being sliced by bullets.”
When he saw the soldiers approaching, Gibe went out with his hands up and said, “I am here; They are with me, we are not enemies!”
Then the soldiers told him to step out of hiding and put down his firearm. They asked him where his two companions carrying firearms went. He said he had no firearm nor his companions. He pleaded to the soldiers to bring his wounded companions to the hospital, but he was ignored. Then Gibe was told by the soldier to “lie down and look away.”
Borromeo Still Alive After Shooting
Borromeo was still alive after the shooting, according to Gibe. When he pleaded with the soldiers to bring his companions to the hospital, Gibe said, he was told, “No, your companions would no longer make it to the hospital.” Instead of bringing the wounded to the hospital, Gibe was asked questions such as if they really coordinated with the EDC and what they were doing in the area. He noticed that the soldiers seemed to be discussing what to do. The meeting of the soldiers and the occasional questioning lasted for two hours.
The soldiers told him that they have been in the area observing for 30 minutes when they saw three men with firearms walking in the area where Co’s team was working. The soldiers said they were conducting a military operation in the area and that two of their colleagues were killed. Gibe told the soldiers what they were doing in the area and named his contacts in the EDC. The soldiers replied, “Do not make any noise! You are already safe.”
For two hours, Borromeo was left lying on the ground with a gunshot wound near his heart. Gibe said he could still hear Borromeo moaning and moving. It was only by around 2:00 p.m. when the soldiers administered first aid on Borromeo. Gibe was told to get up and proceed to pad W403. At around 3:00 p.m., Gibe heard from the soldiers that Borromeo was already dead. The bodies of Co and Cortez were also brought down to the pad.
“The failure of the military unit involved to provide immediate medical attention and hospital treatment to Borromeo prolonged his agony and ultimately led to his death. The military waited at least one hour after they approached Gibe before bringing down the bodies and the survivor despite repeated requests from Gibe and Borromeo, who was still alive then,” the team said.
Military’s Defense, Incredible
It was a chance encounter, Tutaan told the fact finding team. Tutaan even claimed that an NPA was wounded in the armed clash. He also told the fact finding team that there was an exchange of gunfire and that the NPA fired first.
Tutaan said that at around 12:30 noon, a unit from the 19th IB led by 1Lt. Ronald Odchimar chanced upon the NPA, and an exchange of gunfire ensued. According to Tutaan, the gun battle lasted for some 10 to 12 minutes.
Tutaan said his unit was concealed and was in a better position. He said his unit was fired at and they only fired back. During the gunfight, Tutaan said, the “enemy” retreated with one of them wounded. It was only after the gunfight, Tutaan claimed, that his unit realized that there were civilians in the area. These civilians were the group of Co.
According to the team’s report “Even supposing that it was the NPA who were on the ridge and the military was positioned at a higher vantage point – which was difficult to reach – to the east, there were no indications of any bullet hitting the higher vantage point from the direction of the ridge.”
The fact finding team measured the distance from the tree where Co and his group were working to the vantage position of the military. It is only about 50 to 60 meters. (Refer to video below.) The distance from the military’s position to the parking area of W403 pad is only 200 meters. Thus, the team concluded, it was impossible for the soldiers not to see and hear Co and his companions.
Tutaan told the fact finding team that his unit’s operation was legitimate because it was authorized by the command of the brigade.
But based on the team’s observations during the site visit, the following were concluded: The direction of the bullet marks on the trees originated from a vantage point on the ridge above Co and his team; the direction of fire was concentrated on the area where Leonard and his four other companions were standing; Tree no.4 was hit three times and the large tree where Gibe hid had six bullet marks.
Tutaan said they received an intelligence report on Nov. 12 that there were sightings of members of the NPA in the general area outside the periphery of the EDC complex. On Nov. 14, Tutaan said, he started to send several units of the Army in search of the NPA. Tutaan said their national mandate is to secure the strategic energy industry. Their area of responsibility, said Tutaan, is outside the periphery of the EDC complex. However, the shooting took place inside the EDC complex.
Tutaan said his unit has been closely coordinating with the EDC for quite some time because the area outside the EDC complex, around 10 to 12 kilometers away, is a known “play ground” of the NPA. Tutaan said they follow a “protocol” with the company. However, Tutaan did not elaborate on the supposed protocol. He also said information about their combat operations are regularly shared with the EDC.
However, Manuel Paete, EDC resident manager, said that on Nov. 15 they did not receive any report from the military nor were they informed that there was an operation by the military.
Mayor Elmer Codilla of Kananga, Leyte also said there were reports that NPA guerrillas are roaming within the vicinity of EDC. Cadilla, however, could not answer how they verified such reports.
But Borromeo’s family, who are residents of barangay (village) Tongonan, Ormoc Leyte, said they are not aware of the presence of the NPA in the area.
The EDC complex is 200 hectares, from Kananga it extends up to Ormoc City comprised of three barangays, according to Codilla. The EDC complex as well as the adjacent barangays are mountainous areas.
Estelita Pañga Bayo, 67, godmother of Borromeo, and Borromeo’s wife refuted Tutaan’s statement that the area near the EDC complex is the “playground” of the NPA. “I have lived here for 67 years. There has not been a single encounter between the NPA and military in this area nor does the NPA operate here. Generally our place is peaceful.” She added that a week before Nov. 15, EDC hired at least 30 workers from Basey, Samar to harvest rattan inside the EDC complex.
Co arrived at the EDC complex on Nov. 9 for the “Taxonomic Identification, Collection, Procurement and Management of Seeds, Wildings and Seedlings and Assistance in Establishment of Partnerships and Mother Trees for the Binhi Tree for the Future” program of the EDC. According to Paete and Ernie Calumpit, head security of the EDC, Co had already visited areas in the complex since Nov. 10. From Nov. 10 to 13, Co had visited and worked in various pads.
Whitewash?
Justice for Leonard Co Movement feared a possible whitewash in the investigation on the deaths of Co, Cortez, and Borromeo. Tapang said a team from the Philippine National Police-Scene of the Crime Operatives (PNP-SOCO) was able to visit the site 20 hours after the incident and no one from the EDC joined the SOCO. It was only on Nov. 17 that the EDC was able to access the site.
“What happened during the 20 hours between the incident and the arrival of the SOCO team?” the team asked. “The military was present at the incident site all the time since the shooting until after they brought down the bodies. The police was also not allowed to go to the site immediately since the military said they were conducting hot pursuit operations. This failure to secure the site early by the police and the EDC is glaring and puts the reports of the SOCO and the military into a questionable position.”
Tapang said the EDC staff also failed to explain why no EDC personnel were present during the SOCO investigation.
Recommendations
The team expressed concerns regarding the safety of the survivors and their families. During the wake of Borromeo, the victim’s family was visited by men asking rudely for the whereabouts of another survivor, Balute. There were also motorcycle-riding men who tailed some of the team members who visited the communities where the families of the victims and survivors lived. The team called on groups and institutions to provide sanctuary for the survivors and their families.
The team recommends the following:
Those who are responsible for the deaths of Co and his companions, from all levels of the military, should be investigated and appropriate charges be filed against them.
The 19th IB should release the names of the members of the squad and platoon, including their commanding officers, involved in the shooting of Co and company. The firearms of these officers and enlisted men should be secured and surrendered to the proper authorities;
The liability of the military personnel who failed to give Borromeo immediate medical attention and bring him to a hospital should also be fully investigated and appropriate charges be filed against them;
The EDC should clarify the protocols for their communications and coordination with the military especially since there are still other activities [similar to what Co's team was doing] which the EDC continues to conduct;
The EDC should also clarify the extent of their work area and when they would be responsible for the security of their own personnel.
The EDC, the 19th IB and the PNP should make accessible all documents that would further shed light on the incident. (Bulatlat.com)
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Slain botanist’s friends hint military fire caused his death
Malaya
December 9, 2010
A TEAM of scientists, botanists, and environmentalists have found that botanist Leonard Co, forester Sofronio Cortez, and farmer Julius Borromeo were not killed in crossfire.
Dr. Giovanni Tapang, a member of the fact-finding team and chair of AGHAM Advocates of Science and Technology for the People said the team found out that the gunfire was concentrated in the area where Co and his team were.
"Based on the evidence gathered at the site, the bullets only came from uphill and from only one direction," said Tapang.
"There was no indication of any crossfire… There were no bullet marks toward the ridge where the soldiers were positioned," he added.
The military has said the three were killed in the crossfire between troops and New People’s Army rebels on November 15 in Kananga, Leyte. Co’s group was then gathering specimens in a thickly forested area.
Tapang said the team also believed there were no rebels in the area.
"Granting that the military was shooting to their left side (toward the rebels side), why was the bulk of the bullet marks directed to their right (towards Co and company)? There were only a few trees that had bullet markings on the left side from the vantage position of where the military were positioned," Tapang said.
Co was hit by three bullets in the back. He and his team had spent more than a week exploring the geothermal reservation of the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp., searching for indigenous tree species for a corporate forest restoration project. Two other employees of the company survived.
Tapang said the fact-finding team also found out that the military failed to provide immediate aid to Borromeo, despite repeated requests from one of the survivors.
"This prolonged the suffering of Borromeo, who later died from his wounds," he said.
Tapang urged the military, particularly the 19th Infantry Battalion, to identify the members of the squad and platoon, including their commanding officers.
The Armed Forces maintained the death of Co and his two companions was a result of a firefight between government forces and NPA rebels.
As a tribute to the efforts and life of Leonard Co, the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation has launched a Leonardo Co Forest Research Fund.
A sum of P100,000 every year, for years 2011 to 2016, would be made available to scientists who would want to research on Philippine biodiversity. – Angela Lopez de Leon, Victor Reyes and Raymond Africa
December 9, 2010
A TEAM of scientists, botanists, and environmentalists have found that botanist Leonard Co, forester Sofronio Cortez, and farmer Julius Borromeo were not killed in crossfire.
Dr. Giovanni Tapang, a member of the fact-finding team and chair of AGHAM Advocates of Science and Technology for the People said the team found out that the gunfire was concentrated in the area where Co and his team were.
"Based on the evidence gathered at the site, the bullets only came from uphill and from only one direction," said Tapang.
"There was no indication of any crossfire… There were no bullet marks toward the ridge where the soldiers were positioned," he added.
The military has said the three were killed in the crossfire between troops and New People’s Army rebels on November 15 in Kananga, Leyte. Co’s group was then gathering specimens in a thickly forested area.
Tapang said the team also believed there were no rebels in the area.
"Granting that the military was shooting to their left side (toward the rebels side), why was the bulk of the bullet marks directed to their right (towards Co and company)? There were only a few trees that had bullet markings on the left side from the vantage position of where the military were positioned," Tapang said.
Co was hit by three bullets in the back. He and his team had spent more than a week exploring the geothermal reservation of the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp., searching for indigenous tree species for a corporate forest restoration project. Two other employees of the company survived.
Tapang said the fact-finding team also found out that the military failed to provide immediate aid to Borromeo, despite repeated requests from one of the survivors.
"This prolonged the suffering of Borromeo, who later died from his wounds," he said.
Tapang urged the military, particularly the 19th Infantry Battalion, to identify the members of the squad and platoon, including their commanding officers.
The Armed Forces maintained the death of Co and his two companions was a result of a firefight between government forces and NPA rebels.
As a tribute to the efforts and life of Leonard Co, the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation has launched a Leonardo Co Forest Research Fund.
A sum of P100,000 every year, for years 2011 to 2016, would be made available to scientists who would want to research on Philippine biodiversity. – Angela Lopez de Leon, Victor Reyes and Raymond Africa
No crossfire in Leyte Botanist, pals were soldiers’ direct targets
MANILA, Philippines—There was no crossfire, and the shots coming from where the soldiers were positioned were trained directly on the area where noted botanist Leonardo Co and his companions were working, leading to their deaths.
This was according to the findings of a team of scientists including Co's co-workers that looked into the killing of the botanist and his companions Sofronio Cortez and Julius Borromeo last month in the forest of Kananga, Leyte.
The fact-finding team's report ran contrary to the earlier statements of the military that the three men were killed in an exchange of gunfire between soldiers and communist rebels. Co, along with four companions, was in the forest working as a consultant for the Lopez-owned EDC Corp.
The team also said the military failed to provide immediate medical aid to Borromeo after the shooting despite the pleas of survivor Ronino Gibe, thus prolonging Borromeo's suffering before expiring.
The team had visited the Kananga forest and had talked to Gibe and the other survivor, Policarpio Balute.
Atop a ridge
Physicist Giovanni Tapang of the group Agham, a member of the fact-finding mission, said the team found that the soldiers had opened fire while on a ridge overlooking the area where Co et al. were working.
Tapang said there had been no return fire, as indicated by the absence of bullet marks on the trees near the ridge.
“The only consistent explanation for these key observations would be that the military was positioned on top of the ridge and firing toward Leonardo Co and company. There was no indication of any crossfire,” Tapang said in a press briefing Wednesday at the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Biology.
He said the bullet marks on the trees that were near Co and his group showed that the gunfire had come from a higher location.
“The direction of fire was mainly concentrated on the area where Leonard Co, Ronino Gibe, Sofronio Cortez, Policarpio Balute, Julius Borromeo were standing,” he said.
The fact-finding team also said the number of bullets that hit Co et al. indicated that they were the actual targets.
The tree nearest them was hit three times; another tree behind which Gibe took cover had six bullet marks.
DOJ, CHR
Anthony Arbias of the Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society, a member of the fact-finding team, said copies of its report would be given to Co's family, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
Co's wife Glenda said the family was grateful to the team for its work. She said the family would await the findings of the DoJ and CHR before taking further action.
Co's brother-in-law Roberto Austria said EDC should disclose its protocol and whether it was required to, and if it actually did, inform the military of Co's presence in the forest.
Karapatan lawyer Kathrina Castillo, also a member of the fact-finding team, said the military men involved in the shooting should be investigated and charged.
Castillo said the 19th Infantry Battalion, which operates in Kananga, should name the soldiers and commanding officers involved. She said the soldiers who failed to help Borromeo should also be held accountable.
Reconstruction
The fact-finding team reconstructed the events of Nov. 15.
It said the shooting began a few minutes before noon, when Co was inspecting a tree and trying to determine its species. Upon hearing the shots, Co and his companions dropped to the ground, with Co shouting: “Maawa kayo, hindi kami kalaban (Have pity, we are not enemies)!”
Survivors Balute and Gibe also pleaded for the shooting to stop. But the gunfire did not waver for 15-20 minutes, they said.
They also said they were sure that the gunmen had heard them because they heard a man remark, in the local tongue, that Co's group had been there all along (“Nandito lang pala kayo”).
At the briefing, Co's family, friends and supporters, and civil society groups also launched the Justice for Leonard Co movement (www.justiceforleonardco.org).
The Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation has also launched a Leonardo Co Forest Research Fund as a tribute to the scientist.
This was according to the findings of a team of scientists including Co's co-workers that looked into the killing of the botanist and his companions Sofronio Cortez and Julius Borromeo last month in the forest of Kananga, Leyte.
The fact-finding team's report ran contrary to the earlier statements of the military that the three men were killed in an exchange of gunfire between soldiers and communist rebels. Co, along with four companions, was in the forest working as a consultant for the Lopez-owned EDC Corp.
The team also said the military failed to provide immediate medical aid to Borromeo after the shooting despite the pleas of survivor Ronino Gibe, thus prolonging Borromeo's suffering before expiring.
The team had visited the Kananga forest and had talked to Gibe and the other survivor, Policarpio Balute.
Atop a ridge
Physicist Giovanni Tapang of the group Agham, a member of the fact-finding mission, said the team found that the soldiers had opened fire while on a ridge overlooking the area where Co et al. were working.
Tapang said there had been no return fire, as indicated by the absence of bullet marks on the trees near the ridge.
“The only consistent explanation for these key observations would be that the military was positioned on top of the ridge and firing toward Leonardo Co and company. There was no indication of any crossfire,” Tapang said in a press briefing Wednesday at the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Biology.
He said the bullet marks on the trees that were near Co and his group showed that the gunfire had come from a higher location.
“The direction of fire was mainly concentrated on the area where Leonard Co, Ronino Gibe, Sofronio Cortez, Policarpio Balute, Julius Borromeo were standing,” he said.
The fact-finding team also said the number of bullets that hit Co et al. indicated that they were the actual targets.
The tree nearest them was hit three times; another tree behind which Gibe took cover had six bullet marks.
DOJ, CHR
Anthony Arbias of the Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society, a member of the fact-finding team, said copies of its report would be given to Co's family, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
Co's wife Glenda said the family was grateful to the team for its work. She said the family would await the findings of the DoJ and CHR before taking further action.
Co's brother-in-law Roberto Austria said EDC should disclose its protocol and whether it was required to, and if it actually did, inform the military of Co's presence in the forest.
Karapatan lawyer Kathrina Castillo, also a member of the fact-finding team, said the military men involved in the shooting should be investigated and charged.
Castillo said the 19th Infantry Battalion, which operates in Kananga, should name the soldiers and commanding officers involved. She said the soldiers who failed to help Borromeo should also be held accountable.
Reconstruction
The fact-finding team reconstructed the events of Nov. 15.
It said the shooting began a few minutes before noon, when Co was inspecting a tree and trying to determine its species. Upon hearing the shots, Co and his companions dropped to the ground, with Co shouting: “Maawa kayo, hindi kami kalaban (Have pity, we are not enemies)!”
Survivors Balute and Gibe also pleaded for the shooting to stop. But the gunfire did not waver for 15-20 minutes, they said.
They also said they were sure that the gunmen had heard them because they heard a man remark, in the local tongue, that Co's group had been there all along (“Nandito lang pala kayo”).
At the briefing, Co's family, friends and supporters, and civil society groups also launched the Justice for Leonard Co movement (www.justiceforleonardco.org).
The Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation has also launched a Leonardo Co Forest Research Fund as a tribute to the scientist.
Fact-finding mission for Leonard Co
By Giovanni Tapang, Ph.D.
The Manila Times
Thursday, 09 December 2010
Leonardo Co, renowned Filipino conservationist and botanist, along with forester Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo, was killed on November 15, 2010, allegedly by troops of the Philippine Army, while conducting research on tree biodiversity in the Manawan-Kananga Watershed in Leyte. On the day of his death, Co and four of his companions were pursuing research work for the Energy Development Corporation: surveying and collecting specimen seedlings of endangered trees for replanting.
The Army unit involved in the incident, the 19th Infantry Battalion, reported that Co was killed in a crossfire with the New People’s Army. However, accounts from the survivors said that there was no firefight that happened.
The Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan (AGHAM—Advocates of Science and Technology for the People), in coordination with friends and families of the victims, organized a fact finding mission to pursue the truth behind the circumstances of the killing of the three men.
The Fact Finding Mission on the Killings of Leonard Co, Sofrono Cortez and Julius Borromeo in Kananga, Leyte (FFM) had the following objectives: to establish facts and gather relevant information on the November 15, 2010 incident in Kananga, Leyte; to gather testimonies and observations from the people involved in the incident and to identify possible parties and individuals responsible for the incident. The following are excerpts from the findings of the fact finding mission.
The main tools of the FFM were the photo and video documentation taken and recorded during the site visit and key informant interviews. The FFM paid a courtesy call to the Mayor of Kananga town and conducted meetings with the Philippine National Police, the 19th IB, the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) staff and the families and neighbors of the survivors and victims. Other documents obtained during and after the FFM was also used to complete the report.
The FFM was divided into three groups. Team 1 interviewed the EDC personnel and primarily conducted the ocular visit of the site to gather more information, establish facts and gather possible evidence. Team 1 marked the locations with GPS units for proper geotagging. Team 2 made the courtesy call to the mayor and visited the communities where the families of the victims and survivors were. They also visited the family of Cortez in Baybay, Leyte. Team 3 visited the local PNP and was able to talk to Chief of Police Sr. Insp. Camacho and informed them of the plans to visit the site. They also visited the 19th IB headquarters and met with Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan at the gate.
The team observed the following from its interviews and incident site visit: The direction of bullet marks on the trees originated from a vantage point on the ridge above Leonard Co and his team. These bullet marks indicated that the direction of fire was bearing downwards towards Co’s team.
The tree (Tree No. 4) that Co’s team was studying was hit three times. A larger tree where one of the survivors hid had six bullet marks on it. The FFM team did not observe any bullet marks on the trees from the ground looking up to the ridge nor from any other side except from the vantage position.
The only consistent explanation for these key observations would be that the military was positioned on top of the ridge and firing towards Co and company. There was no indication of any crossfire. The failure of the military unit involved to provide immediate medical attention and hospital treatment to Julius Borromeo prolonged his agony and ultimately led to his death. The military waited at least one hour after they approached the position of Co’s team before bringing down the bodies and the survivor Gibe despite his repeated requests, as well as those of the then-alive Borromeo.
Supposing that the military indeed had intelligence information that there were NPA sightings on November 12 and that this was communicated to the EDC, what were the precautions taken to inform LC and his team who were already in the LGPF complex since November 9? Likewise, was the military informed of the team’s activities prior to the day of the incident?
These questions and others are still unanswered. Justice for Leonard and his companions remains elusive. The military should give a full accounting of what happened during that day and the names of the squad or platoon members that were involved in the shooting. The EDC should make public its records and protocols with regard to its security relationship with the military.
Tomorrow is International Human Rights Day. The deaths of Leonard Co and his companions are a reminder that we still have a long way to go with regard to attaining the free exercise of our rights in the country.
The Manila Times
Thursday, 09 December 2010
Leonardo Co, renowned Filipino conservationist and botanist, along with forester Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo, was killed on November 15, 2010, allegedly by troops of the Philippine Army, while conducting research on tree biodiversity in the Manawan-Kananga Watershed in Leyte. On the day of his death, Co and four of his companions were pursuing research work for the Energy Development Corporation: surveying and collecting specimen seedlings of endangered trees for replanting.
The Army unit involved in the incident, the 19th Infantry Battalion, reported that Co was killed in a crossfire with the New People’s Army. However, accounts from the survivors said that there was no firefight that happened.
The Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan (AGHAM—Advocates of Science and Technology for the People), in coordination with friends and families of the victims, organized a fact finding mission to pursue the truth behind the circumstances of the killing of the three men.
The Fact Finding Mission on the Killings of Leonard Co, Sofrono Cortez and Julius Borromeo in Kananga, Leyte (FFM) had the following objectives: to establish facts and gather relevant information on the November 15, 2010 incident in Kananga, Leyte; to gather testimonies and observations from the people involved in the incident and to identify possible parties and individuals responsible for the incident. The following are excerpts from the findings of the fact finding mission.
The main tools of the FFM were the photo and video documentation taken and recorded during the site visit and key informant interviews. The FFM paid a courtesy call to the Mayor of Kananga town and conducted meetings with the Philippine National Police, the 19th IB, the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) staff and the families and neighbors of the survivors and victims. Other documents obtained during and after the FFM was also used to complete the report.
The FFM was divided into three groups. Team 1 interviewed the EDC personnel and primarily conducted the ocular visit of the site to gather more information, establish facts and gather possible evidence. Team 1 marked the locations with GPS units for proper geotagging. Team 2 made the courtesy call to the mayor and visited the communities where the families of the victims and survivors were. They also visited the family of Cortez in Baybay, Leyte. Team 3 visited the local PNP and was able to talk to Chief of Police Sr. Insp. Camacho and informed them of the plans to visit the site. They also visited the 19th IB headquarters and met with Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan at the gate.
The team observed the following from its interviews and incident site visit: The direction of bullet marks on the trees originated from a vantage point on the ridge above Leonard Co and his team. These bullet marks indicated that the direction of fire was bearing downwards towards Co’s team.
The tree (Tree No. 4) that Co’s team was studying was hit three times. A larger tree where one of the survivors hid had six bullet marks on it. The FFM team did not observe any bullet marks on the trees from the ground looking up to the ridge nor from any other side except from the vantage position.
The only consistent explanation for these key observations would be that the military was positioned on top of the ridge and firing towards Co and company. There was no indication of any crossfire. The failure of the military unit involved to provide immediate medical attention and hospital treatment to Julius Borromeo prolonged his agony and ultimately led to his death. The military waited at least one hour after they approached the position of Co’s team before bringing down the bodies and the survivor Gibe despite his repeated requests, as well as those of the then-alive Borromeo.
Supposing that the military indeed had intelligence information that there were NPA sightings on November 12 and that this was communicated to the EDC, what were the precautions taken to inform LC and his team who were already in the LGPF complex since November 9? Likewise, was the military informed of the team’s activities prior to the day of the incident?
These questions and others are still unanswered. Justice for Leonard and his companions remains elusive. The military should give a full accounting of what happened during that day and the names of the squad or platoon members that were involved in the shooting. The EDC should make public its records and protocols with regard to its security relationship with the military.
Tomorrow is International Human Rights Day. The deaths of Leonard Co and his companions are a reminder that we still have a long way to go with regard to attaining the free exercise of our rights in the country.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Kung ano ang sinasabi ng mga puno ng Kananga sa pagpatay kina Leonardo Co
Posted By Kenneth Roland A. Guda
pinoyweekly.org
December 8, 2010
Nakatingala sila sa isang puno, pinagmamasdan ang mga dahon, tanghaling tapat ng Nobyembre 15.
Nasa isang masukal na gubat sa Kananga, Leyte ang field work team ni Leonardo Co. Isang tanyag na taxonomist – o siyentistang nagkaklasipika ng mga tanim at puno – si Leonard. Nangongolekta sila ng seedlings ng mga puno sa lugar. Pangkaraniwang gawain na ito ng mga siyentistang tulad niya.
Kasama niya ang kanyang mga guide at katuwang sa pananaliksik na sina Sofronio “Ponyong” Cortez, Julius “Oyong” Borromeo, Policarpio “Carping” Balute, at Ronino “Niño” Gibe. Nasa gitna sila ng munting palaisipan: Tanguile ba o isang specie ng Shorea ang punong tinitingala? Nalito sila, dahil may nakitang terminal bud ng Shorea sa ibaba ng puno. Pero mukha namang Tanguile, isang tanyag na hardwood, ang puno.
Nakatingala sila sa isang puno, pinagmamasdan ang mga dahon, nang magsimula ang pamamaril.
Interogasyon habang agaw-buhay
Nang matapos ang pamamaril, natagpuang patay ang tanyag na taxonomist na si Leonard. Gayundin sina Ponyong at Oyong. Nakatakas, pero may malalim na sugat sa kalooban, sina Carping at Niño.
Mula sa mga pahayag ni Carping sa midya, sinumpaang salaysay ni Niño na sinumite sa Commission on Human Rights, gayundin sa pag-aaral ng isang independiyenteng fact-finding team na pinamunuan ng grupong Agham (Science and Technology for the People), maaaring mabuo ang mga sirkumstansiya ng pamamaril.
Tatlong araw na silang nasa field work noong Nobyembre 15. Sakop ng operasyon ng isang geothermal plant ng Energy Development Corporation o EDC sa Kananga ang lugar ng pag-aaral nina Leonard. Dating pinatatakbo ng Philippine National Oil Company na pag-aari ng gobyerno, ngayo’y isang pribadong kompanyang pag-aari ng pamilyang Lopez ang EDC.
Tamang tama, konsultant ng EDC sa biodiversity si Leonard, kung kaya may akses siya sa kagubatang kinasasakupan ng operasyon ng planta. Nandoon siya para mangolekta ng seedlings ng mga matatayog na puno sa bahaging ito ng bansa.
Nakatingala sila sa isang puno, inaaral ang mga dahon, nang may magpaputok sa likod ng grupo. Agad na nakatago si Niño. Sa lumabas na mga pahayag niya sa midya, sinabi naman ni Policarpio na nakatakbo siya. Pero sina Leonard, Sofronio at Julius ang tinamaan. Mula sa mga pahayag nina Niño at Policarpio, mistulang pinaulanan sila ng bala. Parang umaangat ang lupa, anila, sa pagtalop ng bala sa lupa. Tumatalsik ang balat ng puno. Habang nakadapa, hindi maiangat ni Niño ang kanyang ulo sa takot na madaplisan ng bala.
Nang matapos ang pagpapaputok – 20 minutos iyon, bagamat ayon sa militar ay 10 hanggang 12 minuto lamang – lumapit ang mga sundalo. Kinuwestiyon si Niño: Nasaan na ang mga kasamahan n’yong armado? Bakit nandito kayo? Bakit may drowing kayo ng lugar? Bakit may GPS kayo? Lumalabas na tumagal mahigit isang oras ang pagtatanong.
Hawak ng isang miyembro ng FFM Team ang karatulang tumutukoy sa isang clearing sa ibaba bilang "Pad 403", ang lugar na pinagbabaan sa tatlong namatay matapos ang pamamaril. Ang tinutungtungang ito ng miyembro ng FFM Team ay ilang metro lang mula sa unang puno na minarkahan nina Leonard. Mahihinuha sa larawan kung gaano kalapit ang pinangyarihan ng pamamaril kina Leonard sa isang clearing, kung kaya lalong nakakapagduda kung bakit tumagal nang higit isang oras ang militar bago ibaba ang mga namatay. (KR Guda) [5]
Hawak ng isang miyembro ng FFM Team ang karatulang tumutukoy sa isang clearing sa ibaba bilang "Pad 403", ang lugar na pinagbabaan sa tatlong namatay matapos ang pamamaril. (KR Guda)
Ibinaba sila, alas-dos na ng hapon. Binitbit sila ng mga sundalo, at ibinaba sa nalalapit na pad (isang sementadong clearing na dinebelop ng EDC), tinatawag na “Pad 403,” at doon naghihintay na ang mga tauhan at sasakyan ng EDC.
Pumanaw na sina Leonard noon. Patay na rin si Ponyong. Ngunit sugatan pa si Oyong, ayon mismo sa militar. Dumadaing pa umano si Oyong, matapos ang putukan. Posibleng dahil isang oras pa ang lumipas, isang oras pang nagsagawa ng interogasyon ang militar, pumanaw din malaon si Oyong.
Mula sa Pad 403, sa pagitan ng alas-dos at 4:30 ng hapon, dinala ng sasakyan ng EDC at ilang sundalo ang tatlong bangkay sa himpilan ng pulisya para ipa-blotter ang kaganapan. Mula sa himpilan, dinala sa ospital para ideklarang patay, at saka dinala sa punerarya.
Di agad nakapag-imbestiga ang pulis at Leyte SOCO sa lugar ng insidente. Ayon kay Senior Insp. Joel Camacho, hepe ng PNP sa Kananga, kinabukasan ng alas-11 ng umaga na unang naimbestigahan ang lugar at nakapagsagawa ng forensic examination sa lugar ang SOCO. Dahil umano ito sa “hot pursuit operations” na ginagawa pa ng militar noong hapon ng Nobyembre 15, matapos mabaril sina Leonard.
Tanyag na tao
Tulad ng matatayog na puno ng Kananga ang reputasyon ni Leonard bilang siyentista. Ito marahil ang dahilan kung bakit nakuha ng pagkamatay niya ang atensiyon ng midya at publiko.
Nobyembre 17 na nang lumabas sa midya ang insidente, matapos ihayag ng militar sa midya ang kanilang bersiyon sa pangyayari. “Naipit” sa isang engkuwentro – isang “chance encounter” pa nga raw – ang grupo ni Leonard. Ayon kay Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, kumander ng 19th Infantry Battalion ng Philippine Army na siyang may sakop sa operasyon ng militar doon, Nobyembre 12 pa lamang ay nakakuha na sila ng impormasyon na may mga rebeldeng New People’s Army (NPA) sa lugar na ito ng EDC.
“It was a battalion operation,” paliwanag ni Tutaan, nang kapanayamin ng naturang fact-finding team (kasama ang Pinoy Weekly) na pumunta sa Kananga sa basbas ng pamilya ni Leonard noong Nob. 27. Ayon kay Tutaan, nagsasagawa ng operasyon ang kanyang tropa sa lugar magmula Nobyembre 14. (Araw mismo ito na nagdeklara ang Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) ng “unofficial ceasefire” para mapanood ng mga sundalo sa telebisyon ang laban sa boksing ni Manny Pacquiao kay Antonio Margarito.)
Isang squad mula sa naturang batalyon ang nagkataong nakakita sa “di bababa sa 10” miyembro raw ng NPA.
Isang oras na umanong minamanmanan ng mga tropa ng 19th IB, sa pangunguna ng isang 1Lt. Ronald Odchimar, ang mga rebeldeng umaali-aligid sa isang lugar. Pumwesto sa isang “mataas, natatago, at superyor” na posisyon ang mga militar. Una pa raw na nagpaputok ang mga rebelde.
Hindi nakatitiyak si Tutaan na hindi mga tropa niya ang nakapatay kina Leonard. Pero matitiyak daw ito sa autopsy ng mga bangkay, gayundin sa ballistic at forensic investigation sa lugar at mga baril na isinumite ni Tutaan sa Scene of the Crime Operatives ng Philippine National Police at sa National Bureau of Investigation. Iyon ay kung mismong mga baril na ginamit sa operasyon ang isinumite ni Tutaan sa mga imbestigador.
“Isang playground kasi ng NPA ang lugar,” sabi ni Tutaan. Bagamat di umano makapagkampo ang mga rebelde sa lugar dahil sa lapit nito sa battalion camp ng 19th IB, “frequent” (madalas) umano na nakikita ang NPA doon – nanghaharas sa kanilang mga tropa, nagbabanta sa planta.
At bagamat nakikipag-ugnayan ang 19th IB sa mga operasyon nito sa lugar, hindi raw alam ng EDC na may operasyon ang militar sa panahong bago napaslang sina Leonard.
Pinabubulaanan ito ni Tutaan, dahil “shared information” naman daw sa pagitan ng militar at EDC ang mga tulad nito. Hindi man nila tuwirang sinabihan ang EDC sa kanilang aktuwal na operasyon sa lugar, nakatitiyak siyang alam ng EDC ito.
Sinabi naman sa midya ni Lt. Gen. Ralph Villanueva, hepe ng Central Command ng AFP kung saan nakapasailalim ang 19th IB, na nasa lugar ang tropa ng Army para “unahan” (preempt) ang NPA na ayon sa “intelligence sources” umano ng Army ay nagbabalak daw na atakihin ang mga instalasyon ng EDC.
Itinatanggi naman ito ng EDC. Hindi umano nila alam na may operasyong nagaganap sa araw na iyon.
Itinanggi rin ng EDC na may madalas na nakikitang NPA sa erya. Ayon kay Manuel Paete, plant manager ng geothermal plant ng EDC sa Leyte, taong 2005 pa huling nagkaulat ng presensiya ng NPA sa mga lugar na sinasakupan ng planta. May sariling puwersang panseguridad (pinamumunuan ng dating mga militar din) ang planta, at maraming checkpoint sa mga kalsada sa loob nito.
Noong mga araw at linggo bago ang pangyayari, wala silang nabalitaan, nalaman, o nakitang grupo ng mga rebelde sa kanilang lugar.
Ilegal na pagtotroso
Bakit nagsasagawa ng mga operasyong militar ang 19th IB sa lugar ng operasyon ng EDC, gayong may sarili namang puwersang panseguridad ang huli?
Ayon kay Tutaan, mahalagang instalasyon ang planta sa Kananga. Pangalawang pinakamalaking geothermal plant ito sa buong mundo, at nagsusuplay ng kuryente sa Leyte, Cebu, Bohol, Negros, Panay, Biliran, Siquijor, Samar at ilang bahagi ng Southern Luzon. Presidente at chief executive officer ng EDC si Paul Aquino, tiyuhin ni Pang. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III at nangungunang strategist ni Aquino noong panahon ng kampanya.
“Kasama sa mandato ng yunit (namin) ang pag-secure sa vital installations,” ani Tutaan. At bagamat may sariling puwersang panseguridad ang EDC, “we (Army) have to secure the general area of EDC.” Ibig sabihin, ang 107,625 ektaryang bundok at lupaing sakop ng operasyon ng planta.
Naiuulat din sa Kananga ang malaganap na ilegal na pagtotroso sa masukal na kagubatan dito. Ayon sa State of Local Government Report na inilabas ng Department of Interior and Local Government noong 2009 hinggil sa kalagayan ng forest ecosystems sa Kananga: “Forest resources and wildlife habitat are at risk; Incidence of large-scale illegal logging is high. Forest resources and wildlife habitat are severely at risk.”
Ayon kay Dr. Pacencia Milan, beteranong ecologist, dating presidente ng Visayas State University sa Baybay, Leyte, at kaibigan ni Leonard, laganap ang mga ulat ng ilegal na pagtotroso sa kagubatan malapit sa lugar ng insidente. Nababalita rin ng ilang impormante niya na may mga militar na nagpoprotekta umano sa mga operator ng ilegal na pagtotrosong ito. Pero wala siyang paraan para makumpirma ang impormasyong ito.
Gayunman, ilegal na pagtotroso rin kaya ang dahilan kung bakit nagsasagawa ng mga operasyong militar ang 19th IB sa lugar? Sabi ni Tutaan, wala siyang alam na nagsasagawa ng illegal logging sa mismong lugar ng pagkamatay nina Leonard. Gayunman, alam nilang may nag-oopereyt na illegal loggers “sa kabilang erya…sa bandang kanan.”
Katunayan, isang linggo bago ang pamamaril kina Leonard, may nahuli umanong ilegal na mga mangtotroso sa lugar na ito – pero di niya alam kung sino ang nahuli o ano ang nasamsam ng Department of Environment and Natural Resources at ilang elemento ng Army.
Pero sa pagkukuwento niya, mukhang maraming alam sa pagtotroso si Tutaan. Isinalarawan niya sa fact-finding team kung ano ang hitsura ng pinuputol na troso: “Pag puputulin ang puno, at tumayo ka, di ba bilog ang makikita mo? (Cross-section ng puno.) Yung bilog na yun, kasya [ang tao] dun!”
Samantala, sinabi ng mga kaanak ni Ponyong sa FFM Team na napag-alaman nilang may aabot sa 30 kataong rattan cutters (namumutol ng puno ng rattan) na diumano’y pinayagan ng EDC na gumala at mamutol ng puno ng rattan sa may lugar ng insidente, isang linggo bago ang mga pamamaslang.
Paliwanag ni Anthony Arbias, kapwa opisyal ni Leonard sa Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society at isa sa mga miyembro ng FFM Team, mahalagang bahagi sana ng conservation at reforestation sa mga kagubahatang tulad ng sa Kananga ang isinasagawa ng grupo ni Leonard. Iyong kinokolekta nilang seedlings ang maaaring magamit para mapatubo at mapalaki sa nursery at kalauna’y maitanim sa mga bahagi ng gubat na nakakalbo na.
Engkuwentro?
May engkuwentro ba talaga o wala? May rebelde ba talagang umaaligid sa mismong laylayan ng geothermal plant ng EDC sa Kananga, Leyte noong Nobyembre 15? Mahalagang sagutin ang mga tanong na ito, para malaman kung sino ang responsable sa pagkamatay nina Leonard, Ponyong at Oyong.
Sa pahayag ng National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas (NDF-EV), ang pampulitikang organisasyon ng mga rebelde, sinabi ng tagapagsalita nito na si Fr. Santiago Salas na “improbable” (malayo sa posibilidad) na namatay sina Leonard sa palitan ng putok sa pagitan ng NPA at mga tropa ng 19th IB. “The NPA camps are well-hidden and highly secure areas inaccessible to most, and an NPA unit on maneuvers also stays away from civilians to maintain secrecy and to avoid endangering them,” ani Salas.
Pinuntahan ng fact-finding team ang mismong site ng insidente. Nakita ng team ang matatayog na mga punong pinag-aralan nina Leonard. Nakita nito ang marka na iniwan nina Leonard sa unang tatlong puno. Nakita rin nito ang punong hinahandang markahan at tinitingala ng lima bago pagbabarilin.
Nakita rin ng fact-finding team ang isang nalalapit na mataas na posisyon. Isang ridge ito na tinatayang aabot sa 40 metro ang layo sa punong tiningala nina Leonard. Sa pag-akyat sa ridge na ito, tanaw ang punong huling sinusuri nina Leonard. Bagamat may kalayuan (tantiya ni Tutaan, 30 hanggang 40 metro ang layo), kitang kita sina Leonard. May “clear shot” ang sinumang nasa puwestong ito, ika nga.
Sa mahigit isang oras ng pagmamasid at pagdodokumento, napansin din ng team na lahat ng nakitang pinaghihinalaang marka ng bala (pinaghihinalaang tama ng mga bala sa mga puno) ay galing sa isang direksiyon lamang. Ang kabilang bahagi ng mga punong may tama ng bala sa isang direksiyon ay walang tama.
“Sa ating initial findings mula sa fact-finding mission, (lumalabas na) isang side lang ang pinanggalingan ng mga bala doon sa pagpunta sa crime-scene. Isang indikasyon ito na walang crossfire na nangyari,” ani Dr. Giovanni Tapang, propesor ng physics sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, tagapangulo ng Agham at isa sa mga pinuno ng misyon. “Dito sa ating pagtantiya sa physical evidence na ito, makikita nating sina Leonard Co na gumagawa lamang ng isang tree survey sa malapit sa Pad 403 ng EDC ay tinamaan ng bullets na nanggaling sa ridge.”
Lumalabas na may ilang inconsistencies din sa kuwento ni Tutaan. Sinabi kasi niya sa fact-finding team, na “nasa harap ng mga tropa ang kalaban (NPA), nasa kanan (ng militar) sina Co.” Direktang nasa harap ng ridge ang punong iniimbestigahan noon nina Leonard. Kung sinasabi ng militar na nasa harap nila noon ang pinaghihinalaang mga NPA, mukhang sina Leonard iyong tinutukoy nila.
Napagkamalan?
Malakas ang posibilidad, kung gayon, na napaghinalaan ng mga militar na NPA sina Leonard kung kaya pinaputukan.
Dahil ba may dala ang dalawa sa kanila na mahahabang itim na payong na maaaring pagkamalang baril sa malayo? Dahil ba paboritong sumbrero ni Leonard ang isang sumbrerong may star sa gitna – sumbrerong karaniwang sinusuot ng mga lider-rebelde, at pinasikat ng mga rebolusyonaryong lider sa ibang bansa na sina Che Guevara at Mao Zedong? Ang mga sundalo lamang na mismong nagpaputok ang tiyak na makasasagot.
Pero sa ngayon, nananatiling nasa proteksiyon sila ng 19th IB. Iginigiit ng kanilang kumander na si Lt. Col. Tutaan na engkuwentro ang naganap. Samantala, kung mayroon mang rebelde sa maulang araw na iyon noong Nobyembre 15, walang ibang nakakita kundi sila.
Di nakita ng EDC, ng sanlaksang mga guwardiya nito, na nagbabantay sa mga checkpoint, at huling nakabalita ng di-kumpirmadong presensiya ng NPA noon pang 2005. Di rin alam ng mga manggagawa ng EDC, na nagtatrabaho sa geothermal wells na matatagpuan malapit sa lugar ng insidente. Di rin alam ng pulisya, sa pangunguna ni Senior Insp. Camacho, na tila ayaw magsalita ng taliwas sa sinasabi ng militar, nang kapanayamin ng fact-finding team.
Higit sa lahat, di alam nina Leonard, Ponyong, Oyong, Carping at Nino. Sa salaysay pa nga nina Nino at Carping, wala silang nakitang ni anino ng rebelde. Sa obserbasyon nila, mula sa iisang direksiyon ang mga bala.
Ayon sa ilang nakakilala sa kanya, makaranasang siyentista si Leonard. “Hindi siya nagte-take ng risks,” kuwento ni Dr. Milan. Malamang daw na pumunta si Leonard sa kagubatang iyon ng Kananga dahil sigurado siya at ang kanyang team sa kanilang seguridad. Sigurado siyang ligtas siyang makakapagsarbey ng mga puno.
Posibleng magamit sana ang mga kaalamang nakuha ni Leonard doon para sa reforestation ng Leyte, na maraming beses nang sinapitan ng trahedya (Ormoc noong 1991 at Guinsaugon noong 2006) dahil diumano sa mga nakakalbong kagubatan doon.
Noong araw na iyon, tumitingala sina Leonard hindi lamang sa mga puno. Mistulang tumitingala sila sa kinabukasan ng Leyte, sa maaaring magawa para mapaunlad ang nanganganib na kagubatan dito. Tulad ng biglaang pagbuwal ng mga illegal logger sa mga puno ng Leyte, biglaang nabuwal ng bala sina Leonard, Ponyong at Oying noong tanghaling iyon ng Nobyembre 15.
pinoyweekly.org
December 8, 2010
Nakatingala sila sa isang puno, pinagmamasdan ang mga dahon, tanghaling tapat ng Nobyembre 15.
Nasa isang masukal na gubat sa Kananga, Leyte ang field work team ni Leonardo Co. Isang tanyag na taxonomist – o siyentistang nagkaklasipika ng mga tanim at puno – si Leonard. Nangongolekta sila ng seedlings ng mga puno sa lugar. Pangkaraniwang gawain na ito ng mga siyentistang tulad niya.
Kasama niya ang kanyang mga guide at katuwang sa pananaliksik na sina Sofronio “Ponyong” Cortez, Julius “Oyong” Borromeo, Policarpio “Carping” Balute, at Ronino “Niño” Gibe. Nasa gitna sila ng munting palaisipan: Tanguile ba o isang specie ng Shorea ang punong tinitingala? Nalito sila, dahil may nakitang terminal bud ng Shorea sa ibaba ng puno. Pero mukha namang Tanguile, isang tanyag na hardwood, ang puno.
Nakatingala sila sa isang puno, pinagmamasdan ang mga dahon, nang magsimula ang pamamaril.
Interogasyon habang agaw-buhay
Nang matapos ang pamamaril, natagpuang patay ang tanyag na taxonomist na si Leonard. Gayundin sina Ponyong at Oyong. Nakatakas, pero may malalim na sugat sa kalooban, sina Carping at Niño.
Mula sa mga pahayag ni Carping sa midya, sinumpaang salaysay ni Niño na sinumite sa Commission on Human Rights, gayundin sa pag-aaral ng isang independiyenteng fact-finding team na pinamunuan ng grupong Agham (Science and Technology for the People), maaaring mabuo ang mga sirkumstansiya ng pamamaril.
Tatlong araw na silang nasa field work noong Nobyembre 15. Sakop ng operasyon ng isang geothermal plant ng Energy Development Corporation o EDC sa Kananga ang lugar ng pag-aaral nina Leonard. Dating pinatatakbo ng Philippine National Oil Company na pag-aari ng gobyerno, ngayo’y isang pribadong kompanyang pag-aari ng pamilyang Lopez ang EDC.
Tamang tama, konsultant ng EDC sa biodiversity si Leonard, kung kaya may akses siya sa kagubatang kinasasakupan ng operasyon ng planta. Nandoon siya para mangolekta ng seedlings ng mga matatayog na puno sa bahaging ito ng bansa.
Nakatingala sila sa isang puno, inaaral ang mga dahon, nang may magpaputok sa likod ng grupo. Agad na nakatago si Niño. Sa lumabas na mga pahayag niya sa midya, sinabi naman ni Policarpio na nakatakbo siya. Pero sina Leonard, Sofronio at Julius ang tinamaan. Mula sa mga pahayag nina Niño at Policarpio, mistulang pinaulanan sila ng bala. Parang umaangat ang lupa, anila, sa pagtalop ng bala sa lupa. Tumatalsik ang balat ng puno. Habang nakadapa, hindi maiangat ni Niño ang kanyang ulo sa takot na madaplisan ng bala.
Nang matapos ang pagpapaputok – 20 minutos iyon, bagamat ayon sa militar ay 10 hanggang 12 minuto lamang – lumapit ang mga sundalo. Kinuwestiyon si Niño: Nasaan na ang mga kasamahan n’yong armado? Bakit nandito kayo? Bakit may drowing kayo ng lugar? Bakit may GPS kayo? Lumalabas na tumagal mahigit isang oras ang pagtatanong.
Hawak ng isang miyembro ng FFM Team ang karatulang tumutukoy sa isang clearing sa ibaba bilang "Pad 403", ang lugar na pinagbabaan sa tatlong namatay matapos ang pamamaril. Ang tinutungtungang ito ng miyembro ng FFM Team ay ilang metro lang mula sa unang puno na minarkahan nina Leonard. Mahihinuha sa larawan kung gaano kalapit ang pinangyarihan ng pamamaril kina Leonard sa isang clearing, kung kaya lalong nakakapagduda kung bakit tumagal nang higit isang oras ang militar bago ibaba ang mga namatay. (KR Guda) [5]
Hawak ng isang miyembro ng FFM Team ang karatulang tumutukoy sa isang clearing sa ibaba bilang "Pad 403", ang lugar na pinagbabaan sa tatlong namatay matapos ang pamamaril. (KR Guda)
Ibinaba sila, alas-dos na ng hapon. Binitbit sila ng mga sundalo, at ibinaba sa nalalapit na pad (isang sementadong clearing na dinebelop ng EDC), tinatawag na “Pad 403,” at doon naghihintay na ang mga tauhan at sasakyan ng EDC.
Pumanaw na sina Leonard noon. Patay na rin si Ponyong. Ngunit sugatan pa si Oyong, ayon mismo sa militar. Dumadaing pa umano si Oyong, matapos ang putukan. Posibleng dahil isang oras pa ang lumipas, isang oras pang nagsagawa ng interogasyon ang militar, pumanaw din malaon si Oyong.
Mula sa Pad 403, sa pagitan ng alas-dos at 4:30 ng hapon, dinala ng sasakyan ng EDC at ilang sundalo ang tatlong bangkay sa himpilan ng pulisya para ipa-blotter ang kaganapan. Mula sa himpilan, dinala sa ospital para ideklarang patay, at saka dinala sa punerarya.
Di agad nakapag-imbestiga ang pulis at Leyte SOCO sa lugar ng insidente. Ayon kay Senior Insp. Joel Camacho, hepe ng PNP sa Kananga, kinabukasan ng alas-11 ng umaga na unang naimbestigahan ang lugar at nakapagsagawa ng forensic examination sa lugar ang SOCO. Dahil umano ito sa “hot pursuit operations” na ginagawa pa ng militar noong hapon ng Nobyembre 15, matapos mabaril sina Leonard.
Tanyag na tao
Tulad ng matatayog na puno ng Kananga ang reputasyon ni Leonard bilang siyentista. Ito marahil ang dahilan kung bakit nakuha ng pagkamatay niya ang atensiyon ng midya at publiko.
Nobyembre 17 na nang lumabas sa midya ang insidente, matapos ihayag ng militar sa midya ang kanilang bersiyon sa pangyayari. “Naipit” sa isang engkuwentro – isang “chance encounter” pa nga raw – ang grupo ni Leonard. Ayon kay Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, kumander ng 19th Infantry Battalion ng Philippine Army na siyang may sakop sa operasyon ng militar doon, Nobyembre 12 pa lamang ay nakakuha na sila ng impormasyon na may mga rebeldeng New People’s Army (NPA) sa lugar na ito ng EDC.
“It was a battalion operation,” paliwanag ni Tutaan, nang kapanayamin ng naturang fact-finding team (kasama ang Pinoy Weekly) na pumunta sa Kananga sa basbas ng pamilya ni Leonard noong Nob. 27. Ayon kay Tutaan, nagsasagawa ng operasyon ang kanyang tropa sa lugar magmula Nobyembre 14. (Araw mismo ito na nagdeklara ang Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) ng “unofficial ceasefire” para mapanood ng mga sundalo sa telebisyon ang laban sa boksing ni Manny Pacquiao kay Antonio Margarito.)
Isang squad mula sa naturang batalyon ang nagkataong nakakita sa “di bababa sa 10” miyembro raw ng NPA.
Isang oras na umanong minamanmanan ng mga tropa ng 19th IB, sa pangunguna ng isang 1Lt. Ronald Odchimar, ang mga rebeldeng umaali-aligid sa isang lugar. Pumwesto sa isang “mataas, natatago, at superyor” na posisyon ang mga militar. Una pa raw na nagpaputok ang mga rebelde.
Hindi nakatitiyak si Tutaan na hindi mga tropa niya ang nakapatay kina Leonard. Pero matitiyak daw ito sa autopsy ng mga bangkay, gayundin sa ballistic at forensic investigation sa lugar at mga baril na isinumite ni Tutaan sa Scene of the Crime Operatives ng Philippine National Police at sa National Bureau of Investigation. Iyon ay kung mismong mga baril na ginamit sa operasyon ang isinumite ni Tutaan sa mga imbestigador.
“Isang playground kasi ng NPA ang lugar,” sabi ni Tutaan. Bagamat di umano makapagkampo ang mga rebelde sa lugar dahil sa lapit nito sa battalion camp ng 19th IB, “frequent” (madalas) umano na nakikita ang NPA doon – nanghaharas sa kanilang mga tropa, nagbabanta sa planta.
At bagamat nakikipag-ugnayan ang 19th IB sa mga operasyon nito sa lugar, hindi raw alam ng EDC na may operasyon ang militar sa panahong bago napaslang sina Leonard.
Pinabubulaanan ito ni Tutaan, dahil “shared information” naman daw sa pagitan ng militar at EDC ang mga tulad nito. Hindi man nila tuwirang sinabihan ang EDC sa kanilang aktuwal na operasyon sa lugar, nakatitiyak siyang alam ng EDC ito.
Sinabi naman sa midya ni Lt. Gen. Ralph Villanueva, hepe ng Central Command ng AFP kung saan nakapasailalim ang 19th IB, na nasa lugar ang tropa ng Army para “unahan” (preempt) ang NPA na ayon sa “intelligence sources” umano ng Army ay nagbabalak daw na atakihin ang mga instalasyon ng EDC.
Itinatanggi naman ito ng EDC. Hindi umano nila alam na may operasyong nagaganap sa araw na iyon.
Itinanggi rin ng EDC na may madalas na nakikitang NPA sa erya. Ayon kay Manuel Paete, plant manager ng geothermal plant ng EDC sa Leyte, taong 2005 pa huling nagkaulat ng presensiya ng NPA sa mga lugar na sinasakupan ng planta. May sariling puwersang panseguridad (pinamumunuan ng dating mga militar din) ang planta, at maraming checkpoint sa mga kalsada sa loob nito.
Noong mga araw at linggo bago ang pangyayari, wala silang nabalitaan, nalaman, o nakitang grupo ng mga rebelde sa kanilang lugar.
Ilegal na pagtotroso
Bakit nagsasagawa ng mga operasyong militar ang 19th IB sa lugar ng operasyon ng EDC, gayong may sarili namang puwersang panseguridad ang huli?
Ayon kay Tutaan, mahalagang instalasyon ang planta sa Kananga. Pangalawang pinakamalaking geothermal plant ito sa buong mundo, at nagsusuplay ng kuryente sa Leyte, Cebu, Bohol, Negros, Panay, Biliran, Siquijor, Samar at ilang bahagi ng Southern Luzon. Presidente at chief executive officer ng EDC si Paul Aquino, tiyuhin ni Pang. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III at nangungunang strategist ni Aquino noong panahon ng kampanya.
“Kasama sa mandato ng yunit (namin) ang pag-secure sa vital installations,” ani Tutaan. At bagamat may sariling puwersang panseguridad ang EDC, “we (Army) have to secure the general area of EDC.” Ibig sabihin, ang 107,625 ektaryang bundok at lupaing sakop ng operasyon ng planta.
Naiuulat din sa Kananga ang malaganap na ilegal na pagtotroso sa masukal na kagubatan dito. Ayon sa State of Local Government Report na inilabas ng Department of Interior and Local Government noong 2009 hinggil sa kalagayan ng forest ecosystems sa Kananga: “Forest resources and wildlife habitat are at risk; Incidence of large-scale illegal logging is high. Forest resources and wildlife habitat are severely at risk.”
Ayon kay Dr. Pacencia Milan, beteranong ecologist, dating presidente ng Visayas State University sa Baybay, Leyte, at kaibigan ni Leonard, laganap ang mga ulat ng ilegal na pagtotroso sa kagubatan malapit sa lugar ng insidente. Nababalita rin ng ilang impormante niya na may mga militar na nagpoprotekta umano sa mga operator ng ilegal na pagtotrosong ito. Pero wala siyang paraan para makumpirma ang impormasyong ito.
Gayunman, ilegal na pagtotroso rin kaya ang dahilan kung bakit nagsasagawa ng mga operasyong militar ang 19th IB sa lugar? Sabi ni Tutaan, wala siyang alam na nagsasagawa ng illegal logging sa mismong lugar ng pagkamatay nina Leonard. Gayunman, alam nilang may nag-oopereyt na illegal loggers “sa kabilang erya…sa bandang kanan.”
Katunayan, isang linggo bago ang pamamaril kina Leonard, may nahuli umanong ilegal na mga mangtotroso sa lugar na ito – pero di niya alam kung sino ang nahuli o ano ang nasamsam ng Department of Environment and Natural Resources at ilang elemento ng Army.
Pero sa pagkukuwento niya, mukhang maraming alam sa pagtotroso si Tutaan. Isinalarawan niya sa fact-finding team kung ano ang hitsura ng pinuputol na troso: “Pag puputulin ang puno, at tumayo ka, di ba bilog ang makikita mo? (Cross-section ng puno.) Yung bilog na yun, kasya [ang tao] dun!”
Samantala, sinabi ng mga kaanak ni Ponyong sa FFM Team na napag-alaman nilang may aabot sa 30 kataong rattan cutters (namumutol ng puno ng rattan) na diumano’y pinayagan ng EDC na gumala at mamutol ng puno ng rattan sa may lugar ng insidente, isang linggo bago ang mga pamamaslang.
Paliwanag ni Anthony Arbias, kapwa opisyal ni Leonard sa Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society at isa sa mga miyembro ng FFM Team, mahalagang bahagi sana ng conservation at reforestation sa mga kagubahatang tulad ng sa Kananga ang isinasagawa ng grupo ni Leonard. Iyong kinokolekta nilang seedlings ang maaaring magamit para mapatubo at mapalaki sa nursery at kalauna’y maitanim sa mga bahagi ng gubat na nakakalbo na.
Engkuwentro?
May engkuwentro ba talaga o wala? May rebelde ba talagang umaaligid sa mismong laylayan ng geothermal plant ng EDC sa Kananga, Leyte noong Nobyembre 15? Mahalagang sagutin ang mga tanong na ito, para malaman kung sino ang responsable sa pagkamatay nina Leonard, Ponyong at Oyong.
Sa pahayag ng National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas (NDF-EV), ang pampulitikang organisasyon ng mga rebelde, sinabi ng tagapagsalita nito na si Fr. Santiago Salas na “improbable” (malayo sa posibilidad) na namatay sina Leonard sa palitan ng putok sa pagitan ng NPA at mga tropa ng 19th IB. “The NPA camps are well-hidden and highly secure areas inaccessible to most, and an NPA unit on maneuvers also stays away from civilians to maintain secrecy and to avoid endangering them,” ani Salas.
Pinuntahan ng fact-finding team ang mismong site ng insidente. Nakita ng team ang matatayog na mga punong pinag-aralan nina Leonard. Nakita nito ang marka na iniwan nina Leonard sa unang tatlong puno. Nakita rin nito ang punong hinahandang markahan at tinitingala ng lima bago pagbabarilin.
Nakita rin ng fact-finding team ang isang nalalapit na mataas na posisyon. Isang ridge ito na tinatayang aabot sa 40 metro ang layo sa punong tiningala nina Leonard. Sa pag-akyat sa ridge na ito, tanaw ang punong huling sinusuri nina Leonard. Bagamat may kalayuan (tantiya ni Tutaan, 30 hanggang 40 metro ang layo), kitang kita sina Leonard. May “clear shot” ang sinumang nasa puwestong ito, ika nga.
Sa mahigit isang oras ng pagmamasid at pagdodokumento, napansin din ng team na lahat ng nakitang pinaghihinalaang marka ng bala (pinaghihinalaang tama ng mga bala sa mga puno) ay galing sa isang direksiyon lamang. Ang kabilang bahagi ng mga punong may tama ng bala sa isang direksiyon ay walang tama.
“Sa ating initial findings mula sa fact-finding mission, (lumalabas na) isang side lang ang pinanggalingan ng mga bala doon sa pagpunta sa crime-scene. Isang indikasyon ito na walang crossfire na nangyari,” ani Dr. Giovanni Tapang, propesor ng physics sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, tagapangulo ng Agham at isa sa mga pinuno ng misyon. “Dito sa ating pagtantiya sa physical evidence na ito, makikita nating sina Leonard Co na gumagawa lamang ng isang tree survey sa malapit sa Pad 403 ng EDC ay tinamaan ng bullets na nanggaling sa ridge.”
Lumalabas na may ilang inconsistencies din sa kuwento ni Tutaan. Sinabi kasi niya sa fact-finding team, na “nasa harap ng mga tropa ang kalaban (NPA), nasa kanan (ng militar) sina Co.” Direktang nasa harap ng ridge ang punong iniimbestigahan noon nina Leonard. Kung sinasabi ng militar na nasa harap nila noon ang pinaghihinalaang mga NPA, mukhang sina Leonard iyong tinutukoy nila.
Napagkamalan?
Malakas ang posibilidad, kung gayon, na napaghinalaan ng mga militar na NPA sina Leonard kung kaya pinaputukan.
Dahil ba may dala ang dalawa sa kanila na mahahabang itim na payong na maaaring pagkamalang baril sa malayo? Dahil ba paboritong sumbrero ni Leonard ang isang sumbrerong may star sa gitna – sumbrerong karaniwang sinusuot ng mga lider-rebelde, at pinasikat ng mga rebolusyonaryong lider sa ibang bansa na sina Che Guevara at Mao Zedong? Ang mga sundalo lamang na mismong nagpaputok ang tiyak na makasasagot.
Pero sa ngayon, nananatiling nasa proteksiyon sila ng 19th IB. Iginigiit ng kanilang kumander na si Lt. Col. Tutaan na engkuwentro ang naganap. Samantala, kung mayroon mang rebelde sa maulang araw na iyon noong Nobyembre 15, walang ibang nakakita kundi sila.
Di nakita ng EDC, ng sanlaksang mga guwardiya nito, na nagbabantay sa mga checkpoint, at huling nakabalita ng di-kumpirmadong presensiya ng NPA noon pang 2005. Di rin alam ng mga manggagawa ng EDC, na nagtatrabaho sa geothermal wells na matatagpuan malapit sa lugar ng insidente. Di rin alam ng pulisya, sa pangunguna ni Senior Insp. Camacho, na tila ayaw magsalita ng taliwas sa sinasabi ng militar, nang kapanayamin ng fact-finding team.
Higit sa lahat, di alam nina Leonard, Ponyong, Oyong, Carping at Nino. Sa salaysay pa nga nina Nino at Carping, wala silang nakitang ni anino ng rebelde. Sa obserbasyon nila, mula sa iisang direksiyon ang mga bala.
Ayon sa ilang nakakilala sa kanya, makaranasang siyentista si Leonard. “Hindi siya nagte-take ng risks,” kuwento ni Dr. Milan. Malamang daw na pumunta si Leonard sa kagubatang iyon ng Kananga dahil sigurado siya at ang kanyang team sa kanilang seguridad. Sigurado siyang ligtas siyang makakapagsarbey ng mga puno.
Posibleng magamit sana ang mga kaalamang nakuha ni Leonard doon para sa reforestation ng Leyte, na maraming beses nang sinapitan ng trahedya (Ormoc noong 1991 at Guinsaugon noong 2006) dahil diumano sa mga nakakalbong kagubatan doon.
Noong araw na iyon, tumitingala sina Leonard hindi lamang sa mga puno. Mistulang tumitingala sila sa kinabukasan ng Leyte, sa maaaring magawa para mapaunlad ang nanganganib na kagubatan dito. Tulad ng biglaang pagbuwal ng mga illegal logger sa mga puno ng Leyte, biglaang nabuwal ng bala sina Leonard, Ponyong at Oying noong tanghaling iyon ng Nobyembre 15.
Scientists: Army's bullets killed top Filipino botanist Leonard Co
JESSE EDEP
GMANews.TV
12/08/2010 | 01:49 PM
The Philippine Army’s bullets killed top Filipino botanist Leonard Co in Leyte province in November, a group of scientists said on Wednesday.
“The direction of the fire was mainly concentrated in the area where [the research team of] Co were standing," Giovanni Tapang, national chairperson of Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (Agham), said at a press conference.
“There was no indication of any crossfire," Tapang said. “The military certainly killed him and two of his team."
Tapang pointed out that an analysis of Co’s gunshot wounds showed that the military could have been on top of a hill when they fired toward the direction of Co and his companions.
Co, along with forest guard Sofronio Cortez and guide Julius Borromeo, were killed in an alleged crossfire between the government troops and the New People’s Army in Leyte on Nov. 15.
“The failure of the military unit involved to provide immediate medical attention and hospital treatment to Borromeo prolonged his agony and ultimately led to his death," Tapang said.
Co and his companions were searching for tree species suitable for a forest restoration project.
Agham investigation
After the death of Co and some members of his research team, Agham went to Kanaga town in Leyte province to establish facts and gather relevant information on the Nov. 15 incident.
Agham's “Fact-Finding Mission on the Killings of Leonard Co" will submit its observations to the Commission on Human Rights, Department of Justice, National Bureau of Investigation, and some international human rights groups.
Based on its observation report, Agham could not identify the number of bullets that hit Co.
However, according to the family of the victim, Co suffered from three bullet wounds.
Tapang pointed out in its observation report that the Army’s 19th IB “should release the names" of the members of the squad and platoon, including their commanding officers, involved in the shooting incident.
The firearms of these officers and enlisted men should be secured and surrendered to proper authorities, he said in the press conference.
Agham also recommended that the Philippine Army, Energy Development Corp. — the company that tasked Co to go through his research — and Philippine National Police should make accessible all documents that would further shed light on the incident.
Caught in crossfire
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), meanwhile, maintained Co and two of his companions were killed as a result of firefight between government forces and NPA rebels.
AFP Central Command spokesman Maj. Christopher Tampos nevertheless said they have nothing against Agham for its report blaming the military for the victims' deaths.
“We have nothing against Agham or other groups but what we are waiting for is the official result [of the investigation] from the [police] task force," said Tampos, citing the ongoing investigation being conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Tampos said the military conducted two investigations on the incident, one by the Army’s 802nd Brigade and one by the 8th Infantry Division. He said the two arrived at the same results.
“There were same results. Their findings were that, indeed, there was encounter in the site," he said.
Tampos, however, admitted that the investigations were partial because they were not able to take the statements of the two survivors, who allegedly refused to cooperate in the military probe.
“They’ve gotten pictures, evidence on the scene of the encounter, including shells from the opposing side. They recovered (shells) from the troops, from the government forces and there were also spent shells coming from the opposing side," he said.
Foremost botanist
Co is a foremost botanist of the University of the Philippines-Diliman and Conservation International-Philippines.
He was given the honor of having a newly-discovered species of Rafflesia (a plant genus bearing giant flowers), Rafflesia leonardis, named after him.
Co, 56, is survived by wife Glenda and daughter Linnaei Marie. – VVP/KBK, GMANews.TV
GMANews.TV
12/08/2010 | 01:49 PM
The Philippine Army’s bullets killed top Filipino botanist Leonard Co in Leyte province in November, a group of scientists said on Wednesday.
“The direction of the fire was mainly concentrated in the area where [the research team of] Co were standing," Giovanni Tapang, national chairperson of Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (Agham), said at a press conference.
“There was no indication of any crossfire," Tapang said. “The military certainly killed him and two of his team."
Tapang pointed out that an analysis of Co’s gunshot wounds showed that the military could have been on top of a hill when they fired toward the direction of Co and his companions.
Co, along with forest guard Sofronio Cortez and guide Julius Borromeo, were killed in an alleged crossfire between the government troops and the New People’s Army in Leyte on Nov. 15.
“The failure of the military unit involved to provide immediate medical attention and hospital treatment to Borromeo prolonged his agony and ultimately led to his death," Tapang said.
Co and his companions were searching for tree species suitable for a forest restoration project.
Agham investigation
After the death of Co and some members of his research team, Agham went to Kanaga town in Leyte province to establish facts and gather relevant information on the Nov. 15 incident.
Agham's “Fact-Finding Mission on the Killings of Leonard Co" will submit its observations to the Commission on Human Rights, Department of Justice, National Bureau of Investigation, and some international human rights groups.
Based on its observation report, Agham could not identify the number of bullets that hit Co.
However, according to the family of the victim, Co suffered from three bullet wounds.
Tapang pointed out in its observation report that the Army’s 19th IB “should release the names" of the members of the squad and platoon, including their commanding officers, involved in the shooting incident.
The firearms of these officers and enlisted men should be secured and surrendered to proper authorities, he said in the press conference.
Agham also recommended that the Philippine Army, Energy Development Corp. — the company that tasked Co to go through his research — and Philippine National Police should make accessible all documents that would further shed light on the incident.
Caught in crossfire
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), meanwhile, maintained Co and two of his companions were killed as a result of firefight between government forces and NPA rebels.
AFP Central Command spokesman Maj. Christopher Tampos nevertheless said they have nothing against Agham for its report blaming the military for the victims' deaths.
“We have nothing against Agham or other groups but what we are waiting for is the official result [of the investigation] from the [police] task force," said Tampos, citing the ongoing investigation being conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Tampos said the military conducted two investigations on the incident, one by the Army’s 802nd Brigade and one by the 8th Infantry Division. He said the two arrived at the same results.
“There were same results. Their findings were that, indeed, there was encounter in the site," he said.
Tampos, however, admitted that the investigations were partial because they were not able to take the statements of the two survivors, who allegedly refused to cooperate in the military probe.
“They’ve gotten pictures, evidence on the scene of the encounter, including shells from the opposing side. They recovered (shells) from the troops, from the government forces and there were also spent shells coming from the opposing side," he said.
Foremost botanist
Co is a foremost botanist of the University of the Philippines-Diliman and Conservation International-Philippines.
He was given the honor of having a newly-discovered species of Rafflesia (a plant genus bearing giant flowers), Rafflesia leonardis, named after him.
Co, 56, is survived by wife Glenda and daughter Linnaei Marie. – VVP/KBK, GMANews.TV
UP botanist not killed in crossfire: probe
ABS-CBN News
By Atom Araullo
Posted at 12/08/2010
MANILA, Philippines - It was the military who shot and killed renowned plant taxonomist and ethnobiologist Leonard Co and his 2 companions, an independent fact-finding mission claimed on Wednesday.
The mission, which is composed of members of the academe and cause-oriented group, presented its findings after conducting an investigation in the jungles of Kananga, Leyte, where Leonard and his team were slain on November 15.
Mission head Giovanni Tapang of the scientists' group Agham said bullet trajectories at the site suggests that the gunshots all came from one direction.
Evidence also suggests that Co and his group were the main targets of the gunmen, he added.
This contradicted earlier statements by the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion in Leyte, who said that the victims were caught in a crossfire between government troops and New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.
"Since the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] was the only armed group in the area, this indicates that it was the soldiers that fired at Co and his companions,” Tapang said.
The mission also said that delays in bringing another victim, Julius Borromeo, to a hospital may have cost him his life.
"It took almost two hours before Julius was brought down from the site to receive medical attention, despite his repeated pleadings,” Tapang said.
More than the loss of a top-caliber Filipino scientist, Tapang believes there is more at stake in seeking justice for Co.
"Kailangan natin matigil yung impunity. Hindi naman pwedeng pag may mga scientists o field workers dun, basta nalang babarilin ng walang kalaban-laban," he said.
The mission’s findings will be forwarded to the Commission on Human Rights, the Department of Justice, and the National Bureau of Investigation.
AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said on Wednesday that he welcomes the findings of the fact-finding mission.
He said they are ready to take action against soldiers responsible if the findings are proven in court.
By Atom Araullo
Posted at 12/08/2010
MANILA, Philippines - It was the military who shot and killed renowned plant taxonomist and ethnobiologist Leonard Co and his 2 companions, an independent fact-finding mission claimed on Wednesday.
The mission, which is composed of members of the academe and cause-oriented group, presented its findings after conducting an investigation in the jungles of Kananga, Leyte, where Leonard and his team were slain on November 15.
Mission head Giovanni Tapang of the scientists' group Agham said bullet trajectories at the site suggests that the gunshots all came from one direction.
Evidence also suggests that Co and his group were the main targets of the gunmen, he added.
This contradicted earlier statements by the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion in Leyte, who said that the victims were caught in a crossfire between government troops and New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.
"Since the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] was the only armed group in the area, this indicates that it was the soldiers that fired at Co and his companions,” Tapang said.
The mission also said that delays in bringing another victim, Julius Borromeo, to a hospital may have cost him his life.
"It took almost two hours before Julius was brought down from the site to receive medical attention, despite his repeated pleadings,” Tapang said.
More than the loss of a top-caliber Filipino scientist, Tapang believes there is more at stake in seeking justice for Co.
"Kailangan natin matigil yung impunity. Hindi naman pwedeng pag may mga scientists o field workers dun, basta nalang babarilin ng walang kalaban-laban," he said.
The mission’s findings will be forwarded to the Commission on Human Rights, the Department of Justice, and the National Bureau of Investigation.
AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said on Wednesday that he welcomes the findings of the fact-finding mission.
He said they are ready to take action against soldiers responsible if the findings are proven in court.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Probe on botanist’s, 2 others deaths continue
EVMail News
December 6, 2010
CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, LEYTE – Forensic expert Dr. Raquel Fortun, together with two colleagues, were here in the city this week to conduct a second autopsy on the bodies of EDC forester Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo.
To recall, the two were killed in an alleged crossfire last November 15 at the forests of the PNOC reservation while accompanying noted botanist Dr. Leonard Co who was doing a biodiversity survey and who was also killed. Co’s body was already examined by Fortun on the family’s request before flying over.
The noted forensic expert also attended a 3-day seminar on forensics training for homicide investigators of the police in the region, held at the Baybayon ni Agalon.
In a related development, the initial fact-finding report by the chairman of the Special Investigation Task Group Sr. Supt. John Sosito submitted to the PNP regional headquarters here dated November 23, 2010 disclosed that some 24 empty shells of 5.56mm were recovered by SOCO team at the site.
They also had the names of the soldiers involved in the incident, with data of their corresponding issued firearms for reference. The list would be helpful if the firearms issued to them are turned-over to the PNP Crime Laboratory for ballistics examination to find out whether the shells recovered match the firearms.
The 19th IB had already turned over nine high-powered firearms to the police, which in turn had been endorsed to the crime laboratory on Sunday yet, November 21.
The soldiers have also been asked to submit their affidavits and other pertinent documents in preparation for the possible filing of criminal charges, if evidences warrant.
The same initial fact-finding report revealed that during an ocular inspection and reenactment also conducted by probers together with the Commission on Human Rights, they discovered on the site more empty shells of M-16 rifle and other personal belongings and foodstuffs.
They also spotted two shells believed to be from an M203 grenade launcher but the SOCO did not touch it. Instead, they requested the Explosive Ordnance Division of PRO-8 to secure it for proper disposition.
It was learned from Supt. Rea Villavecencio, head of the PNP crime laboratory, that all pieces of evidence they gathered in the area are still to be submitted to PNP crime laboratory in Cebu for further examination.
She added that as of press time, the Special Investigating Task Group, even as they want to resolve the case expeditiously, are constrained not only by the existing processes that should be undertaken on physical evidences but also by the non-availability of the material accounts from the survivors. Two people survived the alleged encounter but were reportedly yet in a “state of shock”. By Miriam Garcia Desacada
December 6, 2010
CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, LEYTE – Forensic expert Dr. Raquel Fortun, together with two colleagues, were here in the city this week to conduct a second autopsy on the bodies of EDC forester Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo.
To recall, the two were killed in an alleged crossfire last November 15 at the forests of the PNOC reservation while accompanying noted botanist Dr. Leonard Co who was doing a biodiversity survey and who was also killed. Co’s body was already examined by Fortun on the family’s request before flying over.
The noted forensic expert also attended a 3-day seminar on forensics training for homicide investigators of the police in the region, held at the Baybayon ni Agalon.
In a related development, the initial fact-finding report by the chairman of the Special Investigation Task Group Sr. Supt. John Sosito submitted to the PNP regional headquarters here dated November 23, 2010 disclosed that some 24 empty shells of 5.56mm were recovered by SOCO team at the site.
They also had the names of the soldiers involved in the incident, with data of their corresponding issued firearms for reference. The list would be helpful if the firearms issued to them are turned-over to the PNP Crime Laboratory for ballistics examination to find out whether the shells recovered match the firearms.
The 19th IB had already turned over nine high-powered firearms to the police, which in turn had been endorsed to the crime laboratory on Sunday yet, November 21.
The soldiers have also been asked to submit their affidavits and other pertinent documents in preparation for the possible filing of criminal charges, if evidences warrant.
The same initial fact-finding report revealed that during an ocular inspection and reenactment also conducted by probers together with the Commission on Human Rights, they discovered on the site more empty shells of M-16 rifle and other personal belongings and foodstuffs.
They also spotted two shells believed to be from an M203 grenade launcher but the SOCO did not touch it. Instead, they requested the Explosive Ordnance Division of PRO-8 to secure it for proper disposition.
It was learned from Supt. Rea Villavecencio, head of the PNP crime laboratory, that all pieces of evidence they gathered in the area are still to be submitted to PNP crime laboratory in Cebu for further examination.
She added that as of press time, the Special Investigating Task Group, even as they want to resolve the case expeditiously, are constrained not only by the existing processes that should be undertaken on physical evidences but also by the non-availability of the material accounts from the survivors. Two people survived the alleged encounter but were reportedly yet in a “state of shock”. By Miriam Garcia Desacada
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Shoot first
Editorial
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:10:00 12/05/2010
WHO IS the enemy, exactly? The New People’s Army, of course, according to the Philippine Army. And who is the NPA? Again, according to the Army, it could be anyone, particularly if he has already been killed in an Army operation. More importantly, anyone who gets caught in the crossfire is just unlucky—and none of it is the Army’s fault.
On December 2, Army soldiers in San Francisco, Lucena engaged in a gun battle with gunmen who had hijacked a bus after robbing a hardware store. Three civilian passengers on the bus were killed and in the immediate aftermath, the Army actually identified those three casualties as—you guessed it—members of the NPA, armed communist guerrillas.
Except that they weren’t. The police would make the correction later on, but the Army still maintained that NPA operatives had indeed been spotted in San Francisco. The Army seems to think it was an understandable error. The three civilians were unlucky enough to have been mowed down in the crossfire, but the military almost turned them into enemy combatants; it was a good thing that the police sorted it out, and maybe the military has gotten too used to identifying anyone it kills as communist insurgents, as if that is reason enough to forgive the killings.
Maybe we have let the military get away with using the red scare card just one time too many. Not only have we been slow to ask questions about the identity of casualties but perhaps we also let the Army shoot first and ask questions later.
Another recent tragedy involved one of our best and brightest: botanist Leonard Co was shot dead, along with two others, in yet another alleged crossfire between the military and communist insurgents on November 15 in Leyte’s Kananga town.
In the aftermath, the local Army commander, Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, said he regretted the deaths but justified the government soldiers’ presence in Kananga—they were, of course, hunting communist rebels in the area. “It was just too unfortunate that our men, the NPA members and the civilians were in the same place at the same time,” Tutaan said. “It was a legitimate military operation. But we are very, very remorseful over what happened.”
Again, the hunt for the bogeyman that is the communist NPA is carted out to explain away what may actually be another lapse in judgment on the part of the military. Maybe it is time to ask the questions again. Does the act of identifying the deadly encounter as a legitimate military operation make up for the fact that civilians are killed? Are we so used to the idea of innocent people dying as collateral damage every time the Army allegedly engages the insurgents? When will the numbers add up to action on our part?
The Commission on Human Rights has been keeping itself busy, looking into the often bloody result of encounters between the Army and the NPA. But the impunity, the sheer brazenness of the military classifying each and every encounter resulting in civilian deaths as a legitimate military operation may have been a product of our own indifference.
Perhaps it is our fault that the military gets away with this kind of thinking. We live in our own world, untouched by the idea of immediate danger or the loss of loved ones by accident, so we are content to let the military do whatever it deems necessary for its primary objective: to protect the people—even if it results in the death of those same people, as long as it is, of course, a legitimate military operation.
We have neglected those questions for way too long. Perhaps it is something inherent in us. So we have been taught to trust and support our authorities, even if we occasionally have to turn our heads and hide our disbelief in some of the military’s more implausible explanation. Much is expected of those we have entrusted with the duty of defending us, and it is required that they meet those expectations, perhaps even surpass them. We must not make excuses for them. Too many people have gone missing without proper accounting. Too many people remain in military custody. After all, if you ask the military, every town is crawling with insurgents and every casualty is an NPA agent.
The military serves an important purpose, but it must achieve that purpose without subterfuge or recklessness. It must admit errors when errors are committed, and stop hiding behind the ambiguous menace of the communist movement. We rely on the military for this, but we must learn to ask the right questions and it must give us the unobscured answers. The military must defend us, yes, and it must start by telling us the truth.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:10:00 12/05/2010
WHO IS the enemy, exactly? The New People’s Army, of course, according to the Philippine Army. And who is the NPA? Again, according to the Army, it could be anyone, particularly if he has already been killed in an Army operation. More importantly, anyone who gets caught in the crossfire is just unlucky—and none of it is the Army’s fault.
On December 2, Army soldiers in San Francisco, Lucena engaged in a gun battle with gunmen who had hijacked a bus after robbing a hardware store. Three civilian passengers on the bus were killed and in the immediate aftermath, the Army actually identified those three casualties as—you guessed it—members of the NPA, armed communist guerrillas.
Except that they weren’t. The police would make the correction later on, but the Army still maintained that NPA operatives had indeed been spotted in San Francisco. The Army seems to think it was an understandable error. The three civilians were unlucky enough to have been mowed down in the crossfire, but the military almost turned them into enemy combatants; it was a good thing that the police sorted it out, and maybe the military has gotten too used to identifying anyone it kills as communist insurgents, as if that is reason enough to forgive the killings.
Maybe we have let the military get away with using the red scare card just one time too many. Not only have we been slow to ask questions about the identity of casualties but perhaps we also let the Army shoot first and ask questions later.
Another recent tragedy involved one of our best and brightest: botanist Leonard Co was shot dead, along with two others, in yet another alleged crossfire between the military and communist insurgents on November 15 in Leyte’s Kananga town.
In the aftermath, the local Army commander, Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, said he regretted the deaths but justified the government soldiers’ presence in Kananga—they were, of course, hunting communist rebels in the area. “It was just too unfortunate that our men, the NPA members and the civilians were in the same place at the same time,” Tutaan said. “It was a legitimate military operation. But we are very, very remorseful over what happened.”
Again, the hunt for the bogeyman that is the communist NPA is carted out to explain away what may actually be another lapse in judgment on the part of the military. Maybe it is time to ask the questions again. Does the act of identifying the deadly encounter as a legitimate military operation make up for the fact that civilians are killed? Are we so used to the idea of innocent people dying as collateral damage every time the Army allegedly engages the insurgents? When will the numbers add up to action on our part?
The Commission on Human Rights has been keeping itself busy, looking into the often bloody result of encounters between the Army and the NPA. But the impunity, the sheer brazenness of the military classifying each and every encounter resulting in civilian deaths as a legitimate military operation may have been a product of our own indifference.
Perhaps it is our fault that the military gets away with this kind of thinking. We live in our own world, untouched by the idea of immediate danger or the loss of loved ones by accident, so we are content to let the military do whatever it deems necessary for its primary objective: to protect the people—even if it results in the death of those same people, as long as it is, of course, a legitimate military operation.
We have neglected those questions for way too long. Perhaps it is something inherent in us. So we have been taught to trust and support our authorities, even if we occasionally have to turn our heads and hide our disbelief in some of the military’s more implausible explanation. Much is expected of those we have entrusted with the duty of defending us, and it is required that they meet those expectations, perhaps even surpass them. We must not make excuses for them. Too many people have gone missing without proper accounting. Too many people remain in military custody. After all, if you ask the military, every town is crawling with insurgents and every casualty is an NPA agent.
The military serves an important purpose, but it must achieve that purpose without subterfuge or recklessness. It must admit errors when errors are committed, and stop hiding behind the ambiguous menace of the communist movement. We rely on the military for this, but we must learn to ask the right questions and it must give us the unobscured answers. The military must defend us, yes, and it must start by telling us the truth.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Widows of Other Victims in Kananga ‘Murders’ Call for Justice
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
December 4, 2010
Nov. 15 began like any other day for the families of Julio Borromeo and Sofronio Cortez. Borromeo was even excited because his work with Leonardo Co would be his highest paying job so far. But by the afternoon of that day, the lives of their families changed forever.
KANANGA, LEYTE – It was not only Glenda Co, wife of killed botanist Leonard Co, who lost a husband when soldiers from the 19th Infantry Battalion (IB) allegedly fired at Co’s team on that fateful day of Nov. 15 while Co was conducting work inside the compound of the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corporation (EDC). Teresa Borromeo, 45 and Arsenia Cortez, 52, also lost their husbands.
In a fact-finding mission led by the progressive scientists’ group Agham held last Nov. 26 to 28 in Kananga, Leyte, the wives of the two other victims, Julio Borromeo and Sofronio Cortez, demanded justice. “We want justice. We cannot accept that they died just like that,” Arsenia said.
Teresa said she does not believe that her husband and the rest of Co’s team were caught in a gun battle between the New People’s Army (NPA) and the 19th IB. “It is impossible. All those who work for the EDC have their IDs and some have their uniforms. How could the military mistakenly identify them as NPA?” said Teresa.
Their lives were never the same again, especially for Teresa. Her husband Julio is the only breadwinner of the family and they have six children, the youngest is six years old.
For now, the EDC is supporting the family. The company gave the family sacks of rice, said Estelita Bayo, their godmother in their wedding. They live in barangay Tongonan, Ormoc, Leyte.
Sofronio, on the other hand, was a just bit well off. He was a regular employee of EDC for 26 years and worked as a forest guard. He has three children, two of whom already finished college and the youngest, 16, is already in fourth year high school. The family lives in Baybay, Ormoc City.
Nov.15 was Julio’s first day working with Co; it was also his first day to have a more gainful sideline. “His work is per job order and is not regular. His work with Dr. Co was the highest income that he would supposedly take home,” said Bayo. Julio was supposed to bring home P200 ($4.46) a day for working as assistant to Co’s team for five days.
It was an ordinary day for Julio and Policarpio Balute, a local farmer. They were fetched by Danny Vituella, an employee of EDC. Teresa said it was their usual routine whenever Borromeo would receive a job order from EDC.
“He left early in the morning, around seven o’clock. He did not even eat his breakfast. He was only wearing a T-shirt and pants with his EDC identification card. He brought his umbrella and a sack for the leaves they would supposedly gather,” Teresa said.
Sofronio, on the other hand, was wearing long sleeves polo with an EDC logo and a raincoat also with EDC logo. Arsenia said her husband was always wearing a uniform whenever he worked in the forest within the EDC complex.
The Bad News
What seemed to be an ordinary day became a day of terror.
At about 4:00 p.m. of Nov. 15, Teresa was fetched by Vituella. “He just said that there was a problem.”
Arsenia, who just recovered from sickness at that time, was fetched at about past 6:00 p.m. from their house in barangay Hilapnitan, Baybay. “We were fetched here by two EDC employees and a doctor because I just recovered from my illness at that time and they thought that I would collapse upon hearing the news.”
After two hours of traveling, Teresa saw the body of her husband at V. Rama Funeral House in Kananga. Her husband’s body had gunshots in the chest.
Arsenia arrived at Kananga hospital at about 8:00 p.m. but no one could tell her the news. “When we came, nobody said anything and they were pointing at each other. Then I just said, ‘What? Is Ponyong dead?’ Then I started crying and then we proceeded to V. Rama where his body was.”
The EDC shouldered the funeral expenses for the dead. The company also donated cash and has been giving them food supplies.
Teresa is not only grieving for the loss of her husband; she does not know how to provide for the needs of their six children. “They are pitiful, especially the children,” said Bayo, almost crying now.
Justice
Cortez’s family does not want to comment on the case. They said they would only comment when the result of the autopsy and forensic examination being conducted by pathologist Dr. Raquel del Rosario-Fortun is released. But they demand justice and said that the perpetrators should be punished.
“My husband was a kind man,” Teresa said. “We want justice. We want the perpetrators to be held accountable for killing my husband and his companions.”
Bulatlat.com
December 4, 2010
Nov. 15 began like any other day for the families of Julio Borromeo and Sofronio Cortez. Borromeo was even excited because his work with Leonardo Co would be his highest paying job so far. But by the afternoon of that day, the lives of their families changed forever.
KANANGA, LEYTE – It was not only Glenda Co, wife of killed botanist Leonard Co, who lost a husband when soldiers from the 19th Infantry Battalion (IB) allegedly fired at Co’s team on that fateful day of Nov. 15 while Co was conducting work inside the compound of the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corporation (EDC). Teresa Borromeo, 45 and Arsenia Cortez, 52, also lost their husbands.
In a fact-finding mission led by the progressive scientists’ group Agham held last Nov. 26 to 28 in Kananga, Leyte, the wives of the two other victims, Julio Borromeo and Sofronio Cortez, demanded justice. “We want justice. We cannot accept that they died just like that,” Arsenia said.
Teresa said she does not believe that her husband and the rest of Co’s team were caught in a gun battle between the New People’s Army (NPA) and the 19th IB. “It is impossible. All those who work for the EDC have their IDs and some have their uniforms. How could the military mistakenly identify them as NPA?” said Teresa.
Their lives were never the same again, especially for Teresa. Her husband Julio is the only breadwinner of the family and they have six children, the youngest is six years old.
For now, the EDC is supporting the family. The company gave the family sacks of rice, said Estelita Bayo, their godmother in their wedding. They live in barangay Tongonan, Ormoc, Leyte.
Sofronio, on the other hand, was a just bit well off. He was a regular employee of EDC for 26 years and worked as a forest guard. He has three children, two of whom already finished college and the youngest, 16, is already in fourth year high school. The family lives in Baybay, Ormoc City.
Nov.15 was Julio’s first day working with Co; it was also his first day to have a more gainful sideline. “His work is per job order and is not regular. His work with Dr. Co was the highest income that he would supposedly take home,” said Bayo. Julio was supposed to bring home P200 ($4.46) a day for working as assistant to Co’s team for five days.
It was an ordinary day for Julio and Policarpio Balute, a local farmer. They were fetched by Danny Vituella, an employee of EDC. Teresa said it was their usual routine whenever Borromeo would receive a job order from EDC.
“He left early in the morning, around seven o’clock. He did not even eat his breakfast. He was only wearing a T-shirt and pants with his EDC identification card. He brought his umbrella and a sack for the leaves they would supposedly gather,” Teresa said.
Sofronio, on the other hand, was wearing long sleeves polo with an EDC logo and a raincoat also with EDC logo. Arsenia said her husband was always wearing a uniform whenever he worked in the forest within the EDC complex.
The Bad News
What seemed to be an ordinary day became a day of terror.
At about 4:00 p.m. of Nov. 15, Teresa was fetched by Vituella. “He just said that there was a problem.”
Arsenia, who just recovered from sickness at that time, was fetched at about past 6:00 p.m. from their house in barangay Hilapnitan, Baybay. “We were fetched here by two EDC employees and a doctor because I just recovered from my illness at that time and they thought that I would collapse upon hearing the news.”
After two hours of traveling, Teresa saw the body of her husband at V. Rama Funeral House in Kananga. Her husband’s body had gunshots in the chest.
Arsenia arrived at Kananga hospital at about 8:00 p.m. but no one could tell her the news. “When we came, nobody said anything and they were pointing at each other. Then I just said, ‘What? Is Ponyong dead?’ Then I started crying and then we proceeded to V. Rama where his body was.”
The EDC shouldered the funeral expenses for the dead. The company also donated cash and has been giving them food supplies.
Teresa is not only grieving for the loss of her husband; she does not know how to provide for the needs of their six children. “They are pitiful, especially the children,” said Bayo, almost crying now.
Justice
Cortez’s family does not want to comment on the case. They said they would only comment when the result of the autopsy and forensic examination being conducted by pathologist Dr. Raquel del Rosario-Fortun is released. But they demand justice and said that the perpetrators should be punished.
“My husband was a kind man,” Teresa said. “We want justice. We want the perpetrators to be held accountable for killing my husband and his companions.”
Friday, December 3, 2010
Leonard’s passion
Pinoy Kasi
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:12:00 12/03/2010
SOME TIME last year I was at the Sidcor Sunday market looking at household items from Japan. One tea cup caught my eye because it showed several plants arranged in a row. I looked closely and could tell from the Kanji (Chinese characters borrowed by the Japanese) that they were medicinal plants.
By some strange coincidence, I spotted Leonard Co as he walked past the stall. I knew immediately I had to get the cup for him because of the medicinal plants. I quickly paid for it and caught up with Leonard. “Here,” I told him, “a surprise.”
Leonard looked at the mug, and his face glowed, apparently recognizing they were medicinal plants. Then he looked closely at each plant, and began to give me the Latin scientific name of each of the plants!
That was the last time I saw Leonard alive. Three weeks ago, I got a text saying he had been killed in an encounter in Leyte. Later, the military claimed that he had been killed in the crossfire between government troops and the communist New People’s Army, but other witnesses are now saying the gunfire came only from the military side. Leonard and two other companions were working for Energy Development Corp. on a reforestation project.
I began to share some memories about Leonard last Wednesday, mainly around his work on medicinal plants. He went on to make his name in environmental conservation, his work recognized here and abroad. I shared that story of the Japanese tea cup to show the passion he had for botany, a passion he carried literally to the day he died, still gathering plants for environmental conservation.
He was always in a hurry, arguing that we were running out of time. It seemed like he wanted to catalogue every known plant in the Philippines, especially the ones that were endangered.
He knew he was beginning to make an impact on the mainstream, with the universities and with the private sector, and was always coming up with new ideas for projects. One time at the Sunday market, he told me he wanted to revive a small project I had started back in the 1980s, computerizing information on medicinal plants. I was surprised when he told me he still had the computer print-outs from that project. He had a way of keeping things going, networking people and places.
We tend to think of scientists in white gowns, working in laboratories. Leonard exemplified the field scientist, ever inquisitive, ready to climb mountains, ford rivers, court malaria. He was an adventurer, willing to take risks in search of something new, but he was not an adventurist, meaning someone who takes risks for the thrill alone. Leonard loved life, and had developed the intuition to stay alive.
He survived the Marcos dictatorship, working with community-based health programs that were (and still are) constantly being harassed by the military. There is irony that he died in a time when democratic rights have supposedly been restored.
But the area where he died is controlled by the 19th Infantry Battalion, notorious for what the American military would call “collateral damage,” civilians dying in “crossfire.” With so many claims of accidents from that battalion, questions have emerged as to whether there is a kind of Lost Command implementing a “shoot now, ask questions later” policy that characterized some elements of the military under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The death of Leonard under these circumstances casts a long shadow on our claims to being a free society. How can we be free when soldiers shoot down scientists—accidentally or not—who are willing to go out to remote rural areas?
Leonard’s death is ominous when you think, too, of the Morong 43, doctors and nurses and health workers, also committed to serving in rural impoverished communities, arrested and imprisoned on the basis of a defective search and arrest warrant earlier this year, and still languishing in detention under a new government. Arrest now, ask questions later?
Leonard, Tsinoy
I have to write about Leonard as a fellow Tsinoy or Chinese-Filipino. In the turbulent 1970s, our elders were always warning us against becoming involved in anything political, simply because we were of Chinese ethnicity and were vulnerable to being called “Maoists.”
A few of us did become politically active against the dictatorship, and yes, Leonard and I were fascinated with China and the Chinese experiences around science and health care, but our identities were rooted in the Philippines. The passion Leonard had for science was surpassed only by the passion he had for the Philippines.
In retrospect, I cannot remember ever having conversations with Leonard in Chinese. He would show me Chinese books on medicinal plants, or his notes, which would be partly written in Chinese (mainly plant names and their characteristics, as described in Chinese medicine) but we exchanged ideas not in Chinese, not in English, but in Filipino. Moreover, while Leonard looked much more Chinese than I did, and went to a Chinese school all the way through high school, his Filipino was far better than mine; I would say he spoke Filipino perfectly and being Leonard, that included punning and joking in Filipino.
I thought about all this during his wake in Funeraria Paz, surrounded by white cloth banners that had been put up, with Chinese characters expressing sorrow. The banners reminded me once again of the Chinese side of Leonard.
As I grieved for Leonard, I thought of two Chinese words used to describe one of the most painful kinds of sorrow: xang xin (pronounced sang sin), a wounded heart. I thought of my wounded heart, then, too, and of how his murder has inflicted a deep wound on the nation.
Leonard did run out of time, in this the International Year of Biodiversity, a cause to which he was so totally dedicated. He leaves many friends, colleagues, comrades behind who will continue his work and with his passion, but until we find justice, we will work with heavy, wounded hearts.
A correction to my Wednesday column: Dr. Perry Ong, director of the Institute of Biology at UP Diliman, e-mailed me to say that Leonard did get a degree in BS Botany, not BS Biology as I wrote. Leonard was the last to be awarded a botany degree in UP, giving new meaning to the expression, “last but not least.”
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:12:00 12/03/2010
SOME TIME last year I was at the Sidcor Sunday market looking at household items from Japan. One tea cup caught my eye because it showed several plants arranged in a row. I looked closely and could tell from the Kanji (Chinese characters borrowed by the Japanese) that they were medicinal plants.
By some strange coincidence, I spotted Leonard Co as he walked past the stall. I knew immediately I had to get the cup for him because of the medicinal plants. I quickly paid for it and caught up with Leonard. “Here,” I told him, “a surprise.”
Leonard looked at the mug, and his face glowed, apparently recognizing they were medicinal plants. Then he looked closely at each plant, and began to give me the Latin scientific name of each of the plants!
That was the last time I saw Leonard alive. Three weeks ago, I got a text saying he had been killed in an encounter in Leyte. Later, the military claimed that he had been killed in the crossfire between government troops and the communist New People’s Army, but other witnesses are now saying the gunfire came only from the military side. Leonard and two other companions were working for Energy Development Corp. on a reforestation project.
I began to share some memories about Leonard last Wednesday, mainly around his work on medicinal plants. He went on to make his name in environmental conservation, his work recognized here and abroad. I shared that story of the Japanese tea cup to show the passion he had for botany, a passion he carried literally to the day he died, still gathering plants for environmental conservation.
He was always in a hurry, arguing that we were running out of time. It seemed like he wanted to catalogue every known plant in the Philippines, especially the ones that were endangered.
He knew he was beginning to make an impact on the mainstream, with the universities and with the private sector, and was always coming up with new ideas for projects. One time at the Sunday market, he told me he wanted to revive a small project I had started back in the 1980s, computerizing information on medicinal plants. I was surprised when he told me he still had the computer print-outs from that project. He had a way of keeping things going, networking people and places.
We tend to think of scientists in white gowns, working in laboratories. Leonard exemplified the field scientist, ever inquisitive, ready to climb mountains, ford rivers, court malaria. He was an adventurer, willing to take risks in search of something new, but he was not an adventurist, meaning someone who takes risks for the thrill alone. Leonard loved life, and had developed the intuition to stay alive.
He survived the Marcos dictatorship, working with community-based health programs that were (and still are) constantly being harassed by the military. There is irony that he died in a time when democratic rights have supposedly been restored.
But the area where he died is controlled by the 19th Infantry Battalion, notorious for what the American military would call “collateral damage,” civilians dying in “crossfire.” With so many claims of accidents from that battalion, questions have emerged as to whether there is a kind of Lost Command implementing a “shoot now, ask questions later” policy that characterized some elements of the military under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The death of Leonard under these circumstances casts a long shadow on our claims to being a free society. How can we be free when soldiers shoot down scientists—accidentally or not—who are willing to go out to remote rural areas?
Leonard’s death is ominous when you think, too, of the Morong 43, doctors and nurses and health workers, also committed to serving in rural impoverished communities, arrested and imprisoned on the basis of a defective search and arrest warrant earlier this year, and still languishing in detention under a new government. Arrest now, ask questions later?
Leonard, Tsinoy
I have to write about Leonard as a fellow Tsinoy or Chinese-Filipino. In the turbulent 1970s, our elders were always warning us against becoming involved in anything political, simply because we were of Chinese ethnicity and were vulnerable to being called “Maoists.”
A few of us did become politically active against the dictatorship, and yes, Leonard and I were fascinated with China and the Chinese experiences around science and health care, but our identities were rooted in the Philippines. The passion Leonard had for science was surpassed only by the passion he had for the Philippines.
In retrospect, I cannot remember ever having conversations with Leonard in Chinese. He would show me Chinese books on medicinal plants, or his notes, which would be partly written in Chinese (mainly plant names and their characteristics, as described in Chinese medicine) but we exchanged ideas not in Chinese, not in English, but in Filipino. Moreover, while Leonard looked much more Chinese than I did, and went to a Chinese school all the way through high school, his Filipino was far better than mine; I would say he spoke Filipino perfectly and being Leonard, that included punning and joking in Filipino.
I thought about all this during his wake in Funeraria Paz, surrounded by white cloth banners that had been put up, with Chinese characters expressing sorrow. The banners reminded me once again of the Chinese side of Leonard.
As I grieved for Leonard, I thought of two Chinese words used to describe one of the most painful kinds of sorrow: xang xin (pronounced sang sin), a wounded heart. I thought of my wounded heart, then, too, and of how his murder has inflicted a deep wound on the nation.
Leonard did run out of time, in this the International Year of Biodiversity, a cause to which he was so totally dedicated. He leaves many friends, colleagues, comrades behind who will continue his work and with his passion, but until we find justice, we will work with heavy, wounded hearts.
A correction to my Wednesday column: Dr. Perry Ong, director of the Institute of Biology at UP Diliman, e-mailed me to say that Leonard did get a degree in BS Botany, not BS Biology as I wrote. Leonard was the last to be awarded a botany degree in UP, giving new meaning to the expression, “last but not least.”
Slain botanist’s wife seeks NBI help
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 12/03/2010
MANILA, Philippines – The wife of one of the country’s top botanists who was killed in a purported crossfire between government troops and communist rebels in Leyte province sought the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) help on Thursday.
Glenda Co, wife of Dr. Leonard Co, is seeking justice for the death of her husband.
She was accompanied to the NBI headquarters by lawyer Evalyn Ursua.
Aside from Co, his aides Sofronio Cortez and Julius Borromeo were also killed during the November 15 incident.
The Department of Justice earlier launched a fact-finding investigation on the botanist’s death.
The fact-finding panel is composed of Assistant State Prosecutors Diosdado B. Solidum and Bryan Jacinto S. Cacha of the National Prosecution Service, and Atty. Romulo Asis, chief of the NBI death investigation division.
The 56-year old Co, a specialist in plant taxonomy and ethnobotany, was in the area collecting specimens for a reforestation project for the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. (EDC), which hired him as consultant. He was also president of the Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society, Inc.
Cortez was a forest guard of EDC while Borromeo was a member of the Tongonan Farmers Association. EDC operates power plants in Leyte.
The Armed Forces' Central Command (CentCom) said soldiers of the Army's 19th Infantry Battalion clashed with at least 8 NPA rebels during a security operation in the vicinity of EDC compound in Kananga.
The military and the police are conducting a separate investigation into the possible violation of military regulations in said incident.
Posted at 12/03/2010
MANILA, Philippines – The wife of one of the country’s top botanists who was killed in a purported crossfire between government troops and communist rebels in Leyte province sought the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) help on Thursday.
Glenda Co, wife of Dr. Leonard Co, is seeking justice for the death of her husband.
She was accompanied to the NBI headquarters by lawyer Evalyn Ursua.
Aside from Co, his aides Sofronio Cortez and Julius Borromeo were also killed during the November 15 incident.
The Department of Justice earlier launched a fact-finding investigation on the botanist’s death.
The fact-finding panel is composed of Assistant State Prosecutors Diosdado B. Solidum and Bryan Jacinto S. Cacha of the National Prosecution Service, and Atty. Romulo Asis, chief of the NBI death investigation division.
The 56-year old Co, a specialist in plant taxonomy and ethnobotany, was in the area collecting specimens for a reforestation project for the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. (EDC), which hired him as consultant. He was also president of the Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society, Inc.
Cortez was a forest guard of EDC while Borromeo was a member of the Tongonan Farmers Association. EDC operates power plants in Leyte.
The Armed Forces' Central Command (CentCom) said soldiers of the Army's 19th Infantry Battalion clashed with at least 8 NPA rebels during a security operation in the vicinity of EDC compound in Kananga.
The military and the police are conducting a separate investigation into the possible violation of military regulations in said incident.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
A botanists’ legacy
Rey Enano
Manila Standard Today
December 2, 2010
Leonardo Co, a world-renowned botanist and a reforestation project consultant of Energy Development Corp. until his death, has left a legacy that will immortalize his pioneering work. Co and best friend Daniel Lagunzad had just finished Forest Trees of Palanan, Philippines: A Study in Population Ecology 2006, a coffee table book commissioned by EDC.
Co and Lagunzad identified various flora and fauna in Palanan, Isabela, as part of a biodiversity project.
The same passion drove Co to do research in a forest in Kananga, Leyte, part of the geothermal reservation of EDC. Co, together with forest guard Sofronio Cortez and local farmer Julius Borromeo, were killed on Nov. 15 in an alleged crossfire between the Armed Forces and rebel group New People’s Army.
Co, among his many works, led the discovery of a number of endemic orchid species in Palawan. He reclassified the balayong tree, popularly known in the province as the Palawan cherry, as a legume from the Fabaceae family.
Federico “Piki Lopez, president and chief executive of First Gen Corp., the parent company of EDC, expressed his sadness over Co’s death.
“Leonard’s dedication and enthusiasm for his work is unparalleled. I’ve never seen such passion and dedication. We are deeply saddened by his untimely demise and it’s a tragic loss not only for the academe and scientific community but also for us in the Lopez group and the countless others who share the same goal of protecting and preserving the environment,” Piki said. “Nonetheless, Leonard’s legacy, his timeless works will live on.”
Manila Standard Today
December 2, 2010
Leonardo Co, a world-renowned botanist and a reforestation project consultant of Energy Development Corp. until his death, has left a legacy that will immortalize his pioneering work. Co and best friend Daniel Lagunzad had just finished Forest Trees of Palanan, Philippines: A Study in Population Ecology 2006, a coffee table book commissioned by EDC.
Co and Lagunzad identified various flora and fauna in Palanan, Isabela, as part of a biodiversity project.
The same passion drove Co to do research in a forest in Kananga, Leyte, part of the geothermal reservation of EDC. Co, together with forest guard Sofronio Cortez and local farmer Julius Borromeo, were killed on Nov. 15 in an alleged crossfire between the Armed Forces and rebel group New People’s Army.
Co, among his many works, led the discovery of a number of endemic orchid species in Palawan. He reclassified the balayong tree, popularly known in the province as the Palawan cherry, as a legume from the Fabaceae family.
Federico “Piki Lopez, president and chief executive of First Gen Corp., the parent company of EDC, expressed his sadness over Co’s death.
“Leonard’s dedication and enthusiasm for his work is unparalleled. I’ve never seen such passion and dedication. We are deeply saddened by his untimely demise and it’s a tragic loss not only for the academe and scientific community but also for us in the Lopez group and the countless others who share the same goal of protecting and preserving the environment,” Piki said. “Nonetheless, Leonard’s legacy, his timeless works will live on.”
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Leonard Co
Pinoy Kasi
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:20:00 12/01/2010
LEONARD CO’S life (which lasted a few weeks short of 57 years) was much too brief, but it was a life that overflowed with professional accomplishments and friendships.
Friends are ephemeral, ships passing by in the night as the saying goes. Leonard built friendships that spanned the years.
I knew him from the 1970s, the days of the dictatorship, working with community-based health programs that organized impoverished villages to improve their health care. Our common interest was medicinal plants, which the health programs were trying to promote for many reasons. There were the very practical considerations of medicinal plants being abundant, many quite effective, yet under-utilized. But there was more to the medicinal plants: In those very political days, medicinal plants were also a statement, speaking of nationalism, and self-reliance, a small but significant way of challenging the dominance of Western multinational drug companies.
As political involvement went in those days, we didn’t ask each other too many personal questions. I never met his family, never even knew where he lived. I had gotten to know him in Baguio, and knew he was always on the move, roaming the mountains collecting plants and identifying them.
Chinese doctor
His knowledge of medicinal plants was phenomenal, and not just in terms of botany. He was, really, a self-trained Chinese doctor. He devoured Chinese medical books, convinced that the right way to go with developing medicinal plants in the Philippines was to look at what the Chinese already knew. He would look up plants common to both China and the Philippines, and knew their properties in terms of Chinese medicine—this one “heat-dispelling,” the other “liver-nurturing,” for example.
I came to the plants from a different perspective. I had been assigned by the health programs to gather information from albularyos, and then look up whatever scientific research that had been done, especially around its chemicals.
Leonard had already compiled “A Manual on Some Philippine Medicinal Plants” (1977). There were beautiful illustrations accompanying botanical descriptions as well as medicinal uses, and the properties from Chinese medicine. It was an intriguing approach and I forced myself to relearn Chinese to be able to read Chinese books on traditional medicine, at least to pick out the plants that seemed to have the most potential.
Leonard was far more proficient with the plants, because both of his botanical background and his ability to read Chinese. He continued to work on medicinal plants for many more years, eventually authoring “Common Medicinal Plants of the Cordillera Region.” Although officially classified as a botany book (“QK 99” in the Library of Congress system), it could well have been classified as well under medicine, pharmacy or even anthropology. Packed into 487 pages are detailed descriptions of the plants, with even more lavish illustrations than the ones in the UP Botanical society manual, together with the plants’ uses, and types of preparations and doses.
Even more fascinating is a whole section on collecting and processing the plants into powders, syrups, tinctures, decoctions and even pills. The wealth of information in Leonard’s book is still used today in community-based health programs throughout the country.
Conservation
I rarely saw Leonard after the book came out, but our paths crossed many times. He eventually moved on to environmental conservation, where he made his mark as a taxonomist, a person who identifies and classifies plants. He worked for Conservation International, and while the office was once right next to a health NGO I was connected with, we rarely saw each other. He was often out in the field, with assignments stretching over several weeks, even months.
I heard more of Leonard than saw him, usually anecdotes about his encyclopedic knowledge of plants, and more importantly his passion for science. They were stories I heard again during the memorial services, including one about how he had called out, “Oh my Eugenia!” as he was almost being swept away by strong river currents, Eugenia being the scientific name of a group of plants, specimens of which he had just gathered. There was Leonard the nerd, the excitement at stumbling on ferns, which were his specialty, and launching a soliloquy to pay homage to the plants’ elegance.
The stories were about Leonard the person, much loved and respected. He was famous for his generosity with friends and students; yet he was also known for his simplicity, in particular his trademark Chinese cloth shoes. There was Leonard the entertainer, full of humor and wit and which didn’t exclude poking fun at himself, for example, his “membership” in the Ho Chi Minh Society, together with feigned lamentations about possibly ending up a perpetual bachelor like his idol. Eventually he did marry, and had a daughter, named after the Swedish scientist Linnaeus.
Rafflesia leonardi
In the era of texting, I could send a message to Leonard: “What’s the scientific name of that tree in front of the main library with bright yellow blossoms?” He would reply, giving a local, as well as the scientific name, and I could envision him again, his mind running through the botanical details like a computer.
Low-key as he was, his work did not go unrecognized. He was in demand among environmental conservationists and members of the academe. In 2008, he had a plant named after him, Rafflesia leonardi, and of course, he had to joke about that too, Rafflesia being known for its not too pleasant odor.
Two years ago, I had to give the keynote speech at the recognition ceremonies of the UP College of Science in Diliman. (Recognition ceremonies are smaller college-based ceremonies preceding the large university commencement.) I was surprised, and thrilled, to learn that Leonard was among the graduates. Through the 30-plus years I had known Leonard, I never knew he had not gotten his BS degree, his main stumbling block being a physics subject. The botany degree he was working on had long been abolished, so UP gave him a degree in biology. Given all that he had accomplished, he should have been given a doctorate, honoris causa.
I begged off speaking at two of Leonard’s memorial meetings, one at Funeraria Paz, and the other at the UP Church of the Risen Lord, so I’m going to make up by doing two columns—still all too little for someone who did so much in his lifetime. Bear with me again on Friday as I write about the meaning of the life and death of this scientist, nationalist and patriot.
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:20:00 12/01/2010
LEONARD CO’S life (which lasted a few weeks short of 57 years) was much too brief, but it was a life that overflowed with professional accomplishments and friendships.
Friends are ephemeral, ships passing by in the night as the saying goes. Leonard built friendships that spanned the years.
I knew him from the 1970s, the days of the dictatorship, working with community-based health programs that organized impoverished villages to improve their health care. Our common interest was medicinal plants, which the health programs were trying to promote for many reasons. There were the very practical considerations of medicinal plants being abundant, many quite effective, yet under-utilized. But there was more to the medicinal plants: In those very political days, medicinal plants were also a statement, speaking of nationalism, and self-reliance, a small but significant way of challenging the dominance of Western multinational drug companies.
As political involvement went in those days, we didn’t ask each other too many personal questions. I never met his family, never even knew where he lived. I had gotten to know him in Baguio, and knew he was always on the move, roaming the mountains collecting plants and identifying them.
Chinese doctor
His knowledge of medicinal plants was phenomenal, and not just in terms of botany. He was, really, a self-trained Chinese doctor. He devoured Chinese medical books, convinced that the right way to go with developing medicinal plants in the Philippines was to look at what the Chinese already knew. He would look up plants common to both China and the Philippines, and knew their properties in terms of Chinese medicine—this one “heat-dispelling,” the other “liver-nurturing,” for example.
I came to the plants from a different perspective. I had been assigned by the health programs to gather information from albularyos, and then look up whatever scientific research that had been done, especially around its chemicals.
Leonard had already compiled “A Manual on Some Philippine Medicinal Plants” (1977). There were beautiful illustrations accompanying botanical descriptions as well as medicinal uses, and the properties from Chinese medicine. It was an intriguing approach and I forced myself to relearn Chinese to be able to read Chinese books on traditional medicine, at least to pick out the plants that seemed to have the most potential.
Leonard was far more proficient with the plants, because both of his botanical background and his ability to read Chinese. He continued to work on medicinal plants for many more years, eventually authoring “Common Medicinal Plants of the Cordillera Region.” Although officially classified as a botany book (“QK 99” in the Library of Congress system), it could well have been classified as well under medicine, pharmacy or even anthropology. Packed into 487 pages are detailed descriptions of the plants, with even more lavish illustrations than the ones in the UP Botanical society manual, together with the plants’ uses, and types of preparations and doses.
Even more fascinating is a whole section on collecting and processing the plants into powders, syrups, tinctures, decoctions and even pills. The wealth of information in Leonard’s book is still used today in community-based health programs throughout the country.
Conservation
I rarely saw Leonard after the book came out, but our paths crossed many times. He eventually moved on to environmental conservation, where he made his mark as a taxonomist, a person who identifies and classifies plants. He worked for Conservation International, and while the office was once right next to a health NGO I was connected with, we rarely saw each other. He was often out in the field, with assignments stretching over several weeks, even months.
I heard more of Leonard than saw him, usually anecdotes about his encyclopedic knowledge of plants, and more importantly his passion for science. They were stories I heard again during the memorial services, including one about how he had called out, “Oh my Eugenia!” as he was almost being swept away by strong river currents, Eugenia being the scientific name of a group of plants, specimens of which he had just gathered. There was Leonard the nerd, the excitement at stumbling on ferns, which were his specialty, and launching a soliloquy to pay homage to the plants’ elegance.
The stories were about Leonard the person, much loved and respected. He was famous for his generosity with friends and students; yet he was also known for his simplicity, in particular his trademark Chinese cloth shoes. There was Leonard the entertainer, full of humor and wit and which didn’t exclude poking fun at himself, for example, his “membership” in the Ho Chi Minh Society, together with feigned lamentations about possibly ending up a perpetual bachelor like his idol. Eventually he did marry, and had a daughter, named after the Swedish scientist Linnaeus.
Rafflesia leonardi
In the era of texting, I could send a message to Leonard: “What’s the scientific name of that tree in front of the main library with bright yellow blossoms?” He would reply, giving a local, as well as the scientific name, and I could envision him again, his mind running through the botanical details like a computer.
Low-key as he was, his work did not go unrecognized. He was in demand among environmental conservationists and members of the academe. In 2008, he had a plant named after him, Rafflesia leonardi, and of course, he had to joke about that too, Rafflesia being known for its not too pleasant odor.
Two years ago, I had to give the keynote speech at the recognition ceremonies of the UP College of Science in Diliman. (Recognition ceremonies are smaller college-based ceremonies preceding the large university commencement.) I was surprised, and thrilled, to learn that Leonard was among the graduates. Through the 30-plus years I had known Leonard, I never knew he had not gotten his BS degree, his main stumbling block being a physics subject. The botany degree he was working on had long been abolished, so UP gave him a degree in biology. Given all that he had accomplished, he should have been given a doctorate, honoris causa.
I begged off speaking at two of Leonard’s memorial meetings, one at Funeraria Paz, and the other at the UP Church of the Risen Lord, so I’m going to make up by doing two columns—still all too little for someone who did so much in his lifetime. Bear with me again on Friday as I write about the meaning of the life and death of this scientist, nationalist and patriot.
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