No crossfire

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:11:00 11/22/2010

Some old habits die hard; in the case of the country’s security forces, the excuses they learned under Marcos and military rule (in those dark days, the police was “integrated” into the Armed Forces) were reinforced during the ascendancy of the military in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s latter years in office, and today continue to be in heavy use. When suspects or alleged rebels die in mysterious circumstances, and they happen to be armed, chances are the deaths will be classified as coming from a “shootout” or an “encounter.” When the victims are civilians, and definitely unarmed, their deaths will be reported as the unfortunate result of a “crossfire.”

It was almost inevitable, then, that the deaths of one of the country’s leading botanists, Leonardo Co, and two of his companions, forest guard Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julio Borromeo, around noon a week ago today, were attributed by the AFP to crossfire from an alleged encounter in the forests of Kananga, Leyte between troops of the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion and the communist New People’s Army.

Unfortunately for the military’s version of the story, two more of Co’s companions survived, and their eyewitness accounts are not only riveting; they are different from the AFP’s.

Policarpio Balute, 33, recalled the crucial moment in an interview with the Inquirer’s Joey Gabieta. “During that time, we kept on cracking jokes to Doc’s amusement [referring to Professor Co]. It was raining. Then suddenly, we heard successive bursts of gunfire. The doctor asked us all to lie down on the ground so we would not be hit.”

He added: “I saw the doctor, raising ... 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.”

In an earlier interview, Balute said there was no answering fire. He could not see who was shooting at them from 30 or 40 meters away but, as an early Inquirer report put it, “did not hear any responding volley of shots from any direction that could indicate that the soldiers and rebels were engaged in battle.”

In his second interview, Balute said he did not know if NPA rebels were in the area. He did say that “At that time, we were the only people there.”

To insinuations that Co and company should not have been in the area in the first place, both the company that hired them and Co’s grief-stricken colleagues in academe issued pointed rejoinders.

The Energy Development Corp., part of the Lopez group of companies, released a statement confirming that it had in fact notified the military, through the 8th Infantry Division, that Co would be working in the area. “What we know is that EDC informed the Philippine Army Command responsible for security in the area of Professor Co’s planned route and activities, and had received positive confirmation for them to proceed before they entered the area.” In another statement, EDC identified Co as a biodiversity consultant for the EDC, helping the company implement its “Binhi” reforestation program; Cortez as a member of the Tongonan Farmer’s Association; and Borromeo as belonging to EDC’s Community Partnerships Department.

At a University of the Philippines tribute to Co, colleague Perry Ong, a wildlife biologist, said experts like Co had “lasted this long” doing risky research and work because they precisely did not take any chances. Co would not have been in the area if the military had not been notified, he said. “We go to far-flung places. We wouldn’t have lasted this long if we were reckless or adventurous and just went to a place [without clearance from authorities]. The mere fact that I’m alive and that he was alive up until Monday ... We have been in the forests for 20, 30 years, and we were able to come back alive. Our motto was always ‘safety first.’”

If there was in fact no rebel force that engaged soldiers of the 19th Infantry Battalion on Nov. 15, then we can be certain that that Army unit’s motto was the old military classic: “Shoot first, ask questions later.”

We join our voice to the growing chorus of outrage, and call on the police in the area, the Armed Forces top brass, the Commission on Human Rights, and even the Senate to conduct in parallel a speedy and impartial investigation. The military has said it will cooperate, and has expressed its regrets at the unfortunate loss of life. That’s a start; let no one mistake it for the end.