By Joey A. Gabieta
Inquirer Visayas
First Posted 17:19:00 11/20/2010
ORMOC CITY, Philippines – The families of the two farmers who were killed together with botanist Leonardo Co on November 15 in the forest of Kananga town want an impartial investigation to find out who were really responsible for their deaths.
Whether or not they were caught in the crossfire or were mistaken for rebels by soldiers, the truth has to come out so that the culprits can be brought to justice, said Teresita Borromeo, widow of farmer Julio Borromeo, 50.
“Whoever were responsible have to be punished. They killed my husband as if he was a pig. There was a big hole in his chest,” the 45-year-old widow said in an interview at her house in Tongonan, Ormoc, on Thursday.
Arsenia, the widow Sofronio Cortez, could not even look at her husband lying in a coffin at the wake held at their home in Barangay (village) Hilapnitan, Baybay, Leyte.
Arsenia said she still could not accept that her 50-year-old husband had died so senselessly.
“I am still confused as what happened to my husband and his group. I really don’t know. But we are seeking justice for his death. Up to now, I don’t have the strength to look at his body lying in the coffin,” the widow said in an interview at their house on Saturday.
Borromeo and Cortez will both be buried on Wednesday – Cortez at the Catholic cemetery in Baybay and Borromeo in Ormoc City.
Borromeo left six young children. Cortez had three children whose ages range from 16 to 23.
Teresita Borromeo said she could not believe that their six young children lost their father in such a manner.
“On that day, he left our house at around 6 in the morning. And by 7 p.m., I was expecting him to return. But it never happened,” she said.
Borromeo, a member of the Tongonan Farmers Association, contractually hired by the Energy Development Corp. to plant trees, was assigned by EDC along with Cortez, an EDC forest guard, and two others to assist Co in documenting the tree specimens in the forest in Kananga adjoining the EDC-run Tongonan geothermal power plant.
Co and his team were in a forested area of Barangay Lim-ao and were exchanging jokes just minutes before they were fired upon, said one of the two survivors, Policarpio Balute, 33.
“During that time, we kept on cracking jokes to doc’s [Co] amusement. It was raining. Then suddenly, we heard a successive burst of gunfire. The doctor asked us all to lie down on the ground so we’ll not be hit,” said Balute, whom the Inquirer interviewed at the house of his sister in Barangay Tongonan on Thursday.
“He [Co] kept on shouting to stop the firing, repeatedly shouting, ‘Sir, please stop. Have mercy on us. We are not enemies.’ But they never stopped. The burst of gunfire was so deafening and in rapid succession as if it was like New Year,” Balute added.
Balute, however, would not say who Co referred to as “Sir.”
“I saw the doctor raising his both hands, crying, pleading for them to stop firing at us. But his pleadings were ignored by them as they kept on firing towards our direction,” said Balute.
Balute said he was able crawl away from the range of fire and ran so fast for over an hour until he reached the EDC office and reported the incident to the company’s chief security officer, whom he identified as “Sir Jojo Pascual.”
The other survivor, Niño Gibe, was inside their service vehicle parked some 90 meters away from the scene. He was left unharmed by men dressed in camouflage, Balute claimed.
Balute also said he had no idea if there were New People’s Army rebels in the area, as claimed by the 19th Infantry Battalion that claimed to have figured in a firefight with rebels that led to the death of Co, Borromeo and Cortez.
“But at that time, we were the only people there,” said Balute.
The bodies of Co, Cortez and Borromeo were retrieved hours later loaded on a truck owned by the EDC.
They were first taken to the Kananga police station, then to the Kananga Community Hospital and finally to the V. Rama Funeral Homes in Ormoc City.
Senior Inspector Joel Camacho, Kananga’s police chief, recalled that the bodies of the three victims were taken to the police station past 4 p.m., or more than four hours after the 12:15 p.m. shooting happened.
Camacho said he had no idea that one of the dead was a well-known figure.
Camacho declined to say who could be responsible for the death of the three, saying that an investigation was still on-going and that the autopsy report had not yet been released.
Lieutenant Colonel Federico Tutaan, commanding officer of the 19th Infantry Battalion, maintained there was an encounter between his men and a group of about ten rebels and it was just unfortunate that Co and his team were caught in the crossfire.
He said the area had long been identified as a “hotspot” and a “playground of the NPA.”
Tutaan said that last July 12, they overran an “enemy camp” six days after his men engaged some rebels in a firefight.
He said that last November 15, his men, numbering 38, went to Lim-ao on information that “so many NPA, four groups of NPA, were in the area.”
According to Tutaan, the armed group was in the area to “sabotage the operations” of the EDC.
Among those who went to Cortez’s wake were soldiers from 19th Infantry Battalion.
The first time the soldiers went to the wake on Tuesday night the people there were scared because the soldiers came in full battle gear, said Cortez’s daughter, Sheryl Ara Mae, 22.
Arsenia Cortez pursed her lips and made no comment when asked how she felt about the soldiers at her husband’s wake.
“They condoled with us and felt sorry about what happened to my husband. They stayed for hours just playing cards,” the Cortez widow said.
“They told us just to wait for the results of the investigation,” she said, referring to the officials of the EDC who promised her that they would be informed of the results of the investigation being conducted by the Kananga police.
Arsenia revealed that the last time she had a long talk with her husband, an EDC forest guard for 26 years, they talked about his plans for their 25th wedding anniversary celebration on Jan. 19, 2011.
“But now, he is gone,” she said, holding back her tears.
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