By Elvie Roa, Joey A. Gabieta
Inquirer Visayas
First Posted 19:27:00 11/16/2010
ORMOC CITY, Philippines – A respected Filipino botanist, a forest guard and a farmer were killed in the crossfire between the military and suspected communist rebels Monday noon, the company that was running the project for which the three worked, said on Tuesday.
Engineer Manuel Paete, resident manager of the Energy Development Corporation, identified the fatalities as Leonardo L. Co, a biodiversity consultant of the Energy Development Corp.(EDC); Sofronio G. Cortez, a forest guard of EDC-Environmental Management Division; and Julius Borromeo, a member of the Tongonan Farmers Association (Tofa).
Paete said that based on the reports they received, the three were gathering specimen seedlings of endangered trees in a forested area in Kananga town, Leyte, when Co, Cortez and Borromeo died in the crossfire as a gunbattle erupted between government soldiers and suspected guerillas of the New People’s Army on Monday noon.
Co's two other companions, Policarpio Balute, a member of Tofa, and Roniño Gibe, a contractual forester with EDC's corporate responsibility department, were unharmed but Gibe was admitted to the Ormoc Sugarcane Planters Association (OSPA) hospital because he was in shock, Paete said. Borromeo and Balute served as guides for Co.
The EDC had hired Co as a Binhi project consultant to conduct a study on tree biodiversity in the area and to collect seedling specimens of wild trees for replanting, Paete explained.
According to the EDC website, the company is implementing the Binhi project, which focuses on prime endangered Philippine tree species, to bring back vanishing trees that are highly valued and those that are native to the Philippines.
Inspector Jedol Camacho, Kananga police chief, said the Army soldiers belonging to the 19th Infantry Battalion (IB) reported to the police that they encountered unidentified armed men in Barangay (village) Lim-ao, Kananga.
On the other hand, Lieutenant Colonel Federico Tutaan, commanding officer of the 19th IB, expressed his remorse over the death of Co and two of his companions.
Interviewed over the phone, Tutaan said that he felt “remorseful” over the deaths but he maintained that his men were in the area to respond to the report of the EDC about the presence of armed rebels.
“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,” he said.
He would not say if the bullets that killed the three civilians came from the firearms used by soldiers, saying that the members of the police scene of the crime operatives were conducting their investigation.
During a press conference, Tutaan admitted that an Army soldier fired the first shot upon sighting a man dressed in a black jacket holding a long firearm. The soldiers, he said, were at a vantage point, overlooking the area where suspected rebels were seen.
Tutaan refused to blame anybody for the civilian deaths. “I am not saying it was a lapse,” he said, adding that since the area had a thick forest cover, only patches were visible.
Tutaan said Co and his team were not visible to the soldiers.
On the other hand, Colonel Allan Martin, deputy commanding officer of the 802nd Infantry Brigade, said the soldiers belonging to the 19th IB who figured in the encounter have been “restricted” to their camp in Barangay Aguiting in Kananga.
Martin was interviewed while attending the graduation of 333 new soldiers held at the grounds of the 8th Infantry Division camp in Catbalogan, Samar.
“There is now an investigation regarding that incident and all the soldiers are now restricted at their camp,” Martin said.
The soldiers led by Leiutenant Ronald Ocheamar of the 19th Infantry Battalion were in sitio Upper Mahiao of Barangay Lim-ao, to check on the reported presence of armed men, believed to be members of the New People’s Army, Martin said.
The soldiers figured in a 15-minute firefight with about seven armed men in the area at about 12:15 pm., Martin said
He also said that Major General Mario Chan, commanding general of the division, would issue a formal letter to the EDC regarding the encounter. Martin, however, could not say if the letter would include an apology.
Tutaan also said he was scheduled to leave for Manila on Wednesday after receiving an invitation from retired Rear Admiral Ferdinand Golez, vice president for security of EDC, for an open discussion on the encounter.
Meanwhile, Co's brother-in-law, Darwin Flores, said in a phone interview on Tuesday that the family would like to know what really happened.
“I understand that they were given clearance to proceed to the area,” according to Flores, whose sister Glenda is married to Co.
He said they were told that there was an existing security protocol between the EDC and the local military.
“Definitely, we would like to know if there were lapses. And if there were lapses in the security protocol, those who were responsible should answer for it,” Flores said.
He also disclosed that Co earlier told his wife he would prefer to be cremated and have a short wake.
Co also told his wife he preferred to have some of his ashes scattered in Palanan, Isabela, the place that he loved and where he spent many years; some on a tree in the University of the Philippines (UP) grounds; and the rest to remain with his family, Flores added.
Co, who was also the president of the Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society, Inc., authored the books "Common Medicinal Plants of the Cordillera Region (Northern Luzon, Philippines)" and the "Forest Trees of Palanan, Philippines: A study in population ecology."
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