HOWIE G. SEVERINO, GMANews.TV
11/18/2010 | 05:05 PM
One of the nation’s foremost botanists, Leonardo Co, died ironically where he was most comfortable, inside a forest teeming with indigenous trees. Unknown to him last Monday, danger was camouflaged in the thick vegetation.
He and two other companions, forest guard Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo, were killed in a hail of gunfire coming from Army soldiers who his family believes mistook the research team for New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.
The Army has insisted that the civilians were killed in the crossfire when government troops and the NPA clashed in the forests of Kananga town in Leyte province.
But one of the two survivors on Co’s research team of five told GMA News that the gunfire came from only one direction.
“Doon lang galing sa may itaas lahat at isa lang ang direksyon," said Policarpio M. Balute, a 33-year-old farmer who served as their guide. “Walang sagutan ng putok sa loob ng halos 15 minuto."
(The bullets only came from uphill and from only one direction. No one was firing back for almost 15 minutes.)
Balute was interviewed by GMA News stringer Ronnie Roa in Ormoc, Leyte. Balute said that he didn’t see anyone else in the vicinity during the supposed encounter between the Army and the NPA.
After talking to the other survivor, Roniño Gibe, Co’s family members said at his wake in Quezon City Wednesday night that they didn’t believe the Army’s explanation.
“Niño (Gibe) said when he raised his hands to surrender, the shooting stopped. If they were just in the crossfire, why did they stop?" said one family member, who declined to be identified.
He said they believed it was a case of mistaken identity. Co was hit by three bullets in the back.
Co and his team had spent more than a week exploring the geothermal reservation of the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corporation searching for indigenous tree species for a corporate forest restoration project.
Wildlife biologist Dr. Perry Ong, a longtime friend of Co's, told GMANews.TV that Co’s team had been given security clearance by the EDC, which was supposed to coordinate with the military.
Co’s family recovered the botanist’s cell phone which contained a text message on that fateful morning instructing him and his team to “pull out," which the family interpreted to mean that the military had warned the EDC of an operation in the area. It is not clear if Co actually read the message and was preparing his team to leave the site.
Co’s family members want to know why the EDC did not inform the Army that Co’s team was still inside the forest.
When asked if the military knew about the presence of the team in the area, EDC public relations officer Fernando Rivera said: "It is a sensitive issue, and I cannot go into specifics. We are preparing a press release. All I can say is that the investigation is ongoing."
In an email to colleagues in the conservation community, Dr. Perry Ong wrote: “Until the end, Leonard was working to protect the forest he loved and how to restore it. He died with his boots on."
'My troops fired back'
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, commanding officer of the Army’s 19th IB, reiterated his troops' version that Co was caught in the middle of a legitimate military operation against NPA rebels. (See: Rebels, military in blame game over killing of top botanist)
Tutaan's superior, Lt. Gen. Ralph Villanueva, commander of the AFP’s Central Command that covers the Visayas regions, has ordered an investigation of the incident, specifically on why the troops did not ensure the safety of civilians in the conduct of the operation.
In a phone patch interview with defense reporters, Lt. Col. Tutaan said that he had conducted an initial inquiry into the incident and was “satisfied" with how his men handled the circumstances.
"Kung saka-sakali man na alam namin na may nagtatrabaho sa area na yun, hindi po dun sa particular area na masukal na iyun... Nakakita po kami ng mga kalaban, ng mga communist terrorist... Pumutok po sila kaya't nag-answer fire po yung tropa ko. And within the same area na malapit, nandun din po nagtatrabaho yung sinasabi nating EDC personnel led by Dr. Co."
(If we knew that there were [EDC personnel] working in that area, it wasn't in that particular heavily-forested place…[where] we saw the enemy, communist terrorists…They fired first, so my troops answered fire. And nearby were working the EDC personnel led by Dr. Co.)
Tutaan said his men had been dispatched to investigate intelligence that they received about the presence of 30 rebels as well as information received as early as Nov. 12 of a planned NPA attack. He also claimed that the military had shared this information with the EDC.
Before the firefight, Tutaan said they spotted a group of about seven NPA rebels in the village of Limao.
“[The] observation mode lasted approximately 30 minutes, confirming the presence of the enemy until they [soldiers] were fired upon. When they were fired upon, that was when the exchange [of] fire happened," said Tutaan.
Tutaan said his men told him that the rebels fired first. “When they saw us sir, they immediately fired upon us," he quoted his men as saying. The rebels used M14 rifles, he added.
Tutaan said the soldiers and the rebels were about 10 to 15 meters apart during the encounter and the troops had a clear vision of the insurgents although the encounter site was thickly forested.
He said it was unfortunate that there were civilians in the area, adding that civilians, even loggers and animal hunters, do not usually go there. He said the encounter site is about 800 to 1,000 meters from the EDC working place.
“These people were in a place where you do not expect them to be, but I am not contesting why they were there or what were they doing there because he [Co] is a botanist," said Tutaan.
Police authorities are also conducting a separate probe to determine if the bullets that killed Co and his companions came from the Army unit or from the NPA. – With DM/JV, GMANews.TV
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