By Leila B. Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:08:00 11/21/2010
MANILA, Philippines—Botanist and plant taxonomist Leonardo Co may have trekked mountains, climbed trees and hiked through woods throughout the country as he studied plant life, but there was one place he considered home.
Co returned home Saturday—the University of the Philippines in Diliman—accompanied by members of his family, friends and coworkers who cried for justice as they celebrated his life and his works, through which he would continue to live.
Co in his coffin was conferred the honor of being displayed in front of the UP Oblation, the iconic university statue depicting a naked man facing upward with his arms outstretched.
UP officials and personnel, including chancellor Sergio Cao, welcomed UP’s son home and paid tribute. UP President Emerlinda Roman was also present earlier in the day.
“Leonard is a true son of UP,” said Perry Ong, a wildlife biologist and Co’s friend.
“One of your sons has returned, fulfilling the exhortations of the Oblation to serve the people.”
Volley of gunfire
The 56-year-old Co and companions Sofronio Cortes and Julius Borromeo were killed after allegedly being caught in a volley of gunfire between soldiers and rebels in the forests of Kananga, Leyte, on Monday.
But doubts have cropped up about this version of events, especially after a witness said he did not hear answering gunfire. Investigations are expected.
Ong said Co always went back to the university, no matter where he went.
“Since he entered UP in 1972, he never left. No matter where he worked, he always went back to the herbarium,” Ong said, referring to the greenery of plants and herbs for which Co had essentially stood as the curator.
To signify that Co will always be a part of UP, a third of his ashes after cremation would be given to the UP Institute of Biology and scattered under one of UP’s trees.
Book on medicinal plants
Another third would be scattered in Palanan, Isabela, the site of the forest that he had studied so ardently. The rest would be with his family.
Co did not get his degree until 2008 since he was always out in the field. He also holds the distinction of being the only BS Botany graduate who did not submit a thesis. In lieu of a thesis, he submitted his book on the medicinal plants of the Cordilleras.
Throughout the years, he was a constant presence in UP. Even without any formal appointment papers, he worked there and attended faculty meetings, and no one questioned his presence.
Colleagues still laud his expertise, saying that he could point to any plant and handily give its scientific name and species.
He was so dedicated a taxonomist that he named his young daughter Linnaei Marie after the father of taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus.
Van Gogh of botany
Co would also live on in the Rafflesia leonardi, an endemic parasitic plant species and one of the biggest flowers in the Philippines which was named after him.
Julie Barcelona, a botanist who had named “one of the most beautiful rafflesia” after Co, said that he had once told her that he felt like he was the Van Gogh of botany.
“My worth and the things I have done will be appreciated more after I’m dead,” Barcelona recalled Co as saying.
But she said she made sure to let Co know that he was very much appreciated.
And to hear his colleagues and friends tell it, the presence of the coffee-, cooking- and harmonica-loving Co was very valuable—as a botanist and as a friend—when he was still alive.
On Saturday, in tribute programs at the UP, they poured out their gratitude for being part of his life.
‘Love letter to the world’
Jim La Frankie, a scientist who had worked with Co, said the slain botanist reminded him of the Mother Theresa remark that she was a “little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”
“When I think of Leonardo, I remember him as a love letter to the world,” La Frankie said.
He said Co wanted to help and be part of something bigger than himself, and was not a self-centered man.
As a scientist, Co was excellent, he added. He was always a “truth teller about plants, and everybody else was second place.”
Ang Pot, Co’s childhood friend, recalled that the botanist passionately wanted science to be relevant and to help people, hence his focus on the medicinal uses of plants.
He said that Co might not have gotten stellar marks in class, but what he set out to accomplish proved far greater than what his other classmates did.
Co was invited thrice to Harvard University, where his enthusiasm for studying the Philippine flora was commended as remarkable, as attested to by a letter from Emily Wood, senior collections associate of Harvard.
Stuart Davies, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, also remembered Co as an industrious man who worked well into the night documenting the plants
he harvested.
Vic Amoroso of the Central Mindanao University said Co always carried a long stick for collecting specimen and always shared whatever he had found.
‘Secret weapons’
Mundita Lim of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, wept as she recalled how Co, as well as botanist Daniel Lagunzad, were her “secret weapons” whenever she needed data about plants.
Emilio Sotalbo, retired director of the Campus Maintenance Office, said Co was so persistent in going after specimen that he once climbed up a tree quickly but once up, called for help in getting down.
Members of Co’s family recalled with amusement how the brilliant botanist had a penchant for losing or breaking things such as cameras or laptops, after which he would run to his family or friends for help.
But his family indulged Co and allowed him to pursue what he wanted, since he was the eldest and the only male among his siblings, according to his brother-in-law Bobby Austria.
“You will all agree that genius thrives best in a nurturing environment. That environment was his family,” Austria said.
Austria shared the family’s grief and frustration at the apparent lack of action over the death of Co and his companions. He said what was being reported were all “press releases.”
The family wanted nothing less than justice, he said.
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