The genius of Leonardo L. Co: The people's scientist and professor

STAR SCIENCE By Perry S. Ong, Ph.D.
The Philippine Star
December 16, 2010 12:00 AM

Since Leonard L. Co died last Nov. 15 as a result of gunshot wounds from a supposed crossfire between the Philippine Army and an unnamed armed group, numerous eulogies, tributes and accolades had been expressed largely by the common people but by scientists as well who are familiar with his work – people whose lives Leonard’s knowledge had touched. He was a world-class plant taxonomist bar none. He was an irreparable loss to the country and to his discipline. Many have mourned and grieved his sudden demise. His death was also equated to the loss of a national treasure. There even have been calls for him to be given a posthumous PhD degree (honoris causa). The two houses of Congress have passed resolutions calling for an impartial investigation on his death and acknowledging the loss to the country his death has caused.

But who is Leonard L. Co? Does he deserve all of these praises? If yes, how come it is emerging only now? And what can the mainstream scientific community do about this? It is easy to be swayed by the outpouring of emotions generated by his untimely death and the sense of loss, so it is best to know the man behind the name before we get carried away.

At the time of his death, he was a museum researcher at the Institute of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). He was in Kananga, Leyte as a biodiversity expert sent by the Energy Development Corp., (EDC) for its tree legacy program BINHI looking for mother trees. Two of his team members were also killed.

A quick scan of his brief resumé reveals his publications: 13 peer-reviewed articles of which he was senior author in three; six books of which he was the senior author in four. His first publication was in 1977 (remember, he entered UPD in 1972). His last one was in 2009, less than a year before his death. One of several ongoing writing projects he was doing included “The Enumeration of Philippine Flowering Plants” which he intended as an update on the seminal book on Philippine Plants written by El­mer Merrill who made the initial listing of Philippine Plants when the US Occupation of the country began at the turn of the 20th century. Early estimates indicate that this will take at least five years to complete with a full staff complement working fulltime! He was really a man in a hurry. Friends and colleagues have committed to complete this work, considered as one of Leonard’s unfinished masterpieces.

No one in the mainstream scientific community would have considered Leonard one of them, since he did not get his Bachelor of Science Degree in Botany from the UPD until the summer of 2008. Hence he could not even be hired to teach until then. But this did not stop him from teaching. He always shared whatever he knew. He could be the most temperamental person in the room exploding in anger every now and then when people failed to do what they were supposed to do, but when a student approached him regarding a taxonomic issue, he would be ready to provide the answer and guidance. That explains the outpouring of grief and love from people who had experienced dealing with him. His name will not be seen as the adviser of any PhD or Master of Science degree graduate, yet I personally know of at least two recent PhD graduates that he had mentored (and one more nearing completion) since he could not be appointed a member of graduate committees. He might not have had the formal appointment as a professor but people considered him one because of their recognition of his scholarly outputs.

People would consider him brilliant but they had reservations to consider him as a scientist since he had no degree then, yet this did not stop him from doing research, as his publication outputs attest to. One of the ways we often did to tease him and test him was to ask him a particular taxonomic problem and ask him the reference to this question. He would reply and provide the page number of the reference where the answer could be found. His swordplay with the living greats in plant taxonomy is legendary wherein he was able to argue with these icons and they could only nod in agreement and accept his analysis. I personally saw international delegates bringing him specimens for identification or confirmation. He was highly regarded by the international community. They expressed that Leonard’s death is a great loss to the world of plant taxonomy.

One of Leonard’s frustrations was his awareness of mediocre people who could not hold a candle to his broad encyclopedic knowledge and vast field experience except that these people had a “PhD” after their names and he did not even have a BS degree. Because of this, he would often be bypassed because of his then academic deficiency. Society has not figured out a way to tap geniuses like Leonard.

His last publication in 2006, wherein he was the senior author, was the book “Forest Trees of Palanan, Philippines: A Study in Population Ecology.” This was as part of the book series of the Center for Tropical Forest Science of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution (CTFS-STRI). He was very proud of this achievement, as it was the first of its kind in the Philippines; it was the sixth in the book series that CTFS-STRI had put out and it was supported by the academe, government, non-government organization conservation groups and the private sector (see Figure 1).

It is but fitting to end this with Leonard in his own words, with the dedication he wrote in the book he gave me during the launching of his last book:

“Perry,

The legacy that you have bequeathed to CI-P and its partners is never forgotten. It is being continued and raised to a higher level by a new breed of committed young field biologists – many of whom are proud authors of this work.

The birth of this book is thus a fitting celebration of that legacy: the spirit of partnership and collaboration; of mentoring; of passion for excellence and abhorrence of mediocrity; and most especially of dreaming, innovating and fighting tooth and nail for the cause of biodiversity conservation!”

Signed,

Leonard + five other junior co-authors”

Nobody was more qualified to say those words about excellence and mediocrity. He lived those words until he was gunned down doing the work he loved, identifying tree species in the middle of a remnant forest he was trying to restore. How ironic.

* * *

Dr. Perry S. Ong is a professor of Wildlife Biology and the director at the Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines Diliman (IB-UPD). He is into biodiversity conservation research and is currently focusing on DNA-barcoding of Philippine biodiversity as well as the ecology of urban biodiversity. Together with the other staff members of IB-UPD, he is undertaking research on the biodiversity of five geothermal production fields of the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) in Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Occidental, Valencia City in Negros Oriental, Kananga in Leyte, Mt. Apo in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato in Mindanao and Bacon-Manito (BacMan) in Sorgogon. E-mail him at ongperry@yahoo.com.

Whitewash in The Investigation On The Deaths of Co, Cortez, and Borromeo Feared

Bulatlat.com
Published on December 10, 2010

The physical evidence gathered in the fact finding mission revealed that the trajectories of bullets were coming from and going to only one direction, refuting the military’s claim that there was a supposed gun battle between the military and members of NPA.

KANANGA, Leyte– Leonard Co, Sofronio Cortez and Julio Borromeo were not caught in a gun battle between the New People’s Army (NPA) and the19th Infantry Battalion on that fateful day of Nov. 15. This was the main finding of the independent body that recently conducted a fact finding mission from Nov. 26 to 28 in Kananga, Leyte. The report was presented in a press conference, Dec. 8.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

The citizens’ based fact finding mission was led by Agham (Science and Technology for the People), an organization of progressive scientists dedicated to making science serve the people, not the party list group. Scientists, environmentalists, colleagues of Co and cause-oriented groups also joined the fact finding mission.

Based on news reports, Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, commanding officer of the 19th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army, said the Nov. 15 incident was a legitimate military operation and Co’s team was caught in the crossfire. Two survivors, on the other hand, said no exchange of gunfire happened .

The physical evidence gathered in the fact finding mission revealed that the trajectories of bullets were coming from and going to only one direction, refuting the military’s claim that there was a supposed gun battle between the military and members of NPA.

Survivor’s Account
On Nov. 15, Co together with four other companions resumed their work. Based on the account of officials of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), at about 9:00 a.m., Co decided to go to W403 pad, which is out of the itinerary. (Click here for complete fact finding report). A pad is a forested area inside the EDC complex where research studies are mostly being conducted.

“But this is not out of the ordinary, according to the EDC,” said Dr. Giovanni Tapang, national chairman of Agham and convener of Justice for Leonard Co Movement, who joined the fact finding mission team. The EDC, said Tapang, was informed of Co’s decision.

W403 pad is where the incident happened. The EDC complex is also where the Leyte Geothermal Facility is operating. In a sworn statement by Ronino Gibe, 24, survivor in the shooting incident, at about 9:00 a.m. their team reached W403 pad. Their team was composed of Co, Cortez, Borromeo, Gibe and another survivor Policarpio Balute.

Gibe said it rained while they were conducting their work. They were surveying the forest, measuring the trees and marking them. Gibe said that at about 10 meters from the parking area (called well pad) of W403, they saw a big tree and it became the starting point of the survey. The big tree or Tree No. 1 (Mayapis tree) was marked with 5-01, three meters away they saw Tree No. 2 (Syzigium tree) and marked it with 5-02. About 59 meters from Tree No. 1 is where they saw Tree No. 3 (Tanguile tree).

In Tree No. 3 they saw a fruit called Talisay-gubat but could not find its mother tree. It continued to rain so Co decided to stop the survey. By then, Balute texted the driver, a certain Romy Momo, to fetch them at the W403 pad. But suddenly, the rain stopped and Co decided to continue working together with the rest of the group. A few steps away, they saw Tree No. 4, which they had a hard time identifying.

“Because the whole group was helping to identify the tree, I noticed that we were all looking up Tree No. 4 to see its leaves,” Gibe said in his statement. He said during that time, Borromeo was standing to his left and Co at his right side. Beside Co was Cortez and at the back of the tree was Balute. “After taking a picture of the tree, I put my cellphone back in my jacket. Just before 12:00 noon, we heard a burst of gunfire coming from behind us…we dived to the ground when we heard the gunfire. Then I heard someone shout, ‘We are not enemies, please stop.’ That voice sounded like Carping’s (Balute).”

According to Gibe, the gunfire lasted about 20 minutes. He crawled and hid in the buttress of a tree near Tree No. 4. When the gunfire stopped, he saw men in military uniform with firearms and ammunition approaching their place. After the gunfire stopped, Borromeo was not moving while Co and Cortez were already dead.

Balute was able to run away from the place of the shooting.

Gibe said if he moved, he could have been hit. “I didn’t have the opportunity to run because I felt that the guns were aimed low because there were bullets hitting the tree where I was hiding. I could see the bark of the trees being sliced by bullets.”

When he saw the soldiers approaching, Gibe went out with his hands up and said, “I am here; They are with me, we are not enemies!”

Then the soldiers told him to step out of hiding and put down his firearm. They asked him where his two companions carrying firearms went. He said he had no firearm nor his companions. He pleaded to the soldiers to bring his wounded companions to the hospital, but he was ignored. Then Gibe was told by the soldier to “lie down and look away.”

Borromeo Still Alive After Shooting
Borromeo was still alive after the shooting, according to Gibe. When he pleaded with the soldiers to bring his companions to the hospital, Gibe said, he was told, “No, your companions would no longer make it to the hospital.” Instead of bringing the wounded to the hospital, Gibe was asked questions such as if they really coordinated with the EDC and what they were doing in the area. He noticed that the soldiers seemed to be discussing what to do. The meeting of the soldiers and the occasional questioning lasted for two hours.

The soldiers told him that they have been in the area observing for 30 minutes when they saw three men with firearms walking in the area where Co’s team was working. The soldiers said they were conducting a military operation in the area and that two of their colleagues were killed. Gibe told the soldiers what they were doing in the area and named his contacts in the EDC. The soldiers replied, “Do not make any noise! You are already safe.”

For two hours, Borromeo was left lying on the ground with a gunshot wound near his heart. Gibe said he could still hear Borromeo moaning and moving. It was only by around 2:00 p.m. when the soldiers administered first aid on Borromeo. Gibe was told to get up and proceed to pad W403. At around 3:00 p.m., Gibe heard from the soldiers that Borromeo was already dead. The bodies of Co and Cortez were also brought down to the pad.

“The failure of the military unit involved to provide immediate medical attention and hospital treatment to Borromeo prolonged his agony and ultimately led to his death. The military waited at least one hour after they approached Gibe before bringing down the bodies and the survivor despite repeated requests from Gibe and Borromeo, who was still alive then,” the team said.

Military’s Defense, Incredible
It was a chance encounter, Tutaan told the fact finding team. Tutaan even claimed that an NPA was wounded in the armed clash. He also told the fact finding team that there was an exchange of gunfire and that the NPA fired first.

Tutaan said that at around 12:30 noon, a unit from the 19th IB led by 1Lt. Ronald Odchimar chanced upon the NPA, and an exchange of gunfire ensued. According to Tutaan, the gun battle lasted for some 10 to 12 minutes.

Tutaan said his unit was concealed and was in a better position. He said his unit was fired at and they only fired back. During the gunfight, Tutaan said, the “enemy” retreated with one of them wounded. It was only after the gunfight, Tutaan claimed, that his unit realized that there were civilians in the area. These civilians were the group of Co.

According to the team’s report “Even supposing that it was the NPA who were on the ridge and the military was positioned at a higher vantage point – which was difficult to reach – to the east, there were no indications of any bullet hitting the higher vantage point from the direction of the ridge.”

The fact finding team measured the distance from the tree where Co and his group were working to the vantage position of the military. It is only about 50 to 60 meters. (Refer to video below.) The distance from the military’s position to the parking area of W403 pad is only 200 meters. Thus, the team concluded, it was impossible for the soldiers not to see and hear Co and his companions.

Tutaan told the fact finding team that his unit’s operation was legitimate because it was authorized by the command of the brigade.

But based on the team’s observations during the site visit, the following were concluded: The direction of the bullet marks on the trees originated from a vantage point on the ridge above Co and his team; the direction of fire was concentrated on the area where Leonard and his four other companions were standing; Tree no.4 was hit three times and the large tree where Gibe hid had six bullet marks.

Tutaan said they received an intelligence report on Nov. 12 that there were sightings of members of the NPA in the general area outside the periphery of the EDC complex. On Nov. 14, Tutaan said, he started to send several units of the Army in search of the NPA. Tutaan said their national mandate is to secure the strategic energy industry. Their area of responsibility, said Tutaan, is outside the periphery of the EDC complex. However, the shooting took place inside the EDC complex.

Tutaan said his unit has been closely coordinating with the EDC for quite some time because the area outside the EDC complex, around 10 to 12 kilometers away, is a known “play ground” of the NPA. Tutaan said they follow a “protocol” with the company. However, Tutaan did not elaborate on the supposed protocol. He also said information about their combat operations are regularly shared with the EDC.

However, Manuel Paete, EDC resident manager, said that on Nov. 15 they did not receive any report from the military nor were they informed that there was an operation by the military.

Mayor Elmer Codilla of Kananga, Leyte also said there were reports that NPA guerrillas are roaming within the vicinity of EDC. Cadilla, however, could not answer how they verified such reports.

But Borromeo’s family, who are residents of barangay (village) Tongonan, Ormoc Leyte, said they are not aware of the presence of the NPA in the area.

The EDC complex is 200 hectares, from Kananga it extends up to Ormoc City comprised of three barangays, according to Codilla. The EDC complex as well as the adjacent barangays are mountainous areas.

Estelita Pañga Bayo, 67, godmother of Borromeo, and Borromeo’s wife refuted Tutaan’s statement that the area near the EDC complex is the “playground” of the NPA. “I have lived here for 67 years. There has not been a single encounter between the NPA and military in this area nor does the NPA operate here. Generally our place is peaceful.” She added that a week before Nov. 15, EDC hired at least 30 workers from Basey, Samar to harvest rattan inside the EDC complex.

Co arrived at the EDC complex on Nov. 9 for the “Taxonomic Identification, Collection, Procurement and Management of Seeds, Wildings and Seedlings and Assistance in Establishment of Partnerships and Mother Trees for the Binhi Tree for the Future” program of the EDC. According to Paete and Ernie Calumpit, head security of the EDC, Co had already visited areas in the complex since Nov. 10. From Nov. 10 to 13, Co had visited and worked in various pads.

Whitewash?
Justice for Leonard Co Movement feared a possible whitewash in the investigation on the deaths of Co, Cortez, and Borromeo. Tapang said a team from the Philippine National Police-Scene of the Crime Operatives (PNP-SOCO) was able to visit the site 20 hours after the incident and no one from the EDC joined the SOCO. It was only on Nov. 17 that the EDC was able to access the site.

“What happened during the 20 hours between the incident and the arrival of the SOCO team?” the team asked. “The military was present at the incident site all the time since the shooting until after they brought down the bodies. The police was also not allowed to go to the site immediately since the military said they were conducting hot pursuit operations. This failure to secure the site early by the police and the EDC is glaring and puts the reports of the SOCO and the military into a questionable position.”

Tapang said the EDC staff also failed to explain why no EDC personnel were present during the SOCO investigation.

Recommendations
The team expressed concerns regarding the safety of the survivors and their families. During the wake of Borromeo, the victim’s family was visited by men asking rudely for the whereabouts of another survivor, Balute. There were also motorcycle-riding men who tailed some of the team members who visited the communities where the families of the victims and survivors lived. The team called on groups and institutions to provide sanctuary for the survivors and their families.

The team recommends the following:

Those who are responsible for the deaths of Co and his companions, from all levels of the military, should be investigated and appropriate charges be filed against them.

The 19th IB should release the names of the members of the squad and platoon, including their commanding officers, involved in the shooting of Co and company. The firearms of these officers and enlisted men should be secured and surrendered to the proper authorities;

The liability of the military personnel who failed to give Borromeo immediate medical attention and bring him to a hospital should also be fully investigated and appropriate charges be filed against them;

The EDC should clarify the protocols for their communications and coordination with the military especially since there are still other activities [similar to what Co's team was doing] which the EDC continues to conduct;

The EDC should also clarify the extent of their work area and when they would be responsible for the security of their own personnel.

The EDC, the 19th IB and the PNP should make accessible all documents that would further shed light on the incident. (Bulatlat.com)

Fact-finding mission for Leonard Co

By Giovanni Tapang, Ph.D.
The Manila Times
Thursday, 09 December 2010

Leonardo Co, renowned Filipino conservationist and botanist, along with forester Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo, was killed on November 15, 2010, allegedly by troops of the Philippine Army, while conducting research on tree biodiversity in the Manawan-Kananga Watershed in Leyte. On the day of his death, Co and four of his companions were pursuing research work for the Energy Development Corporation: surveying and collecting specimen seedlings of endangered trees for replanting.

The Army unit involved in the incident, the 19th Infantry Battalion, reported that Co was killed in a crossfire with the New People’s Army. However, accounts from the survivors said that there was no firefight that happened.

The Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan (AGHAM—Advocates of Science and Technology for the People), in coordination with friends and families of the victims, organized a fact finding mission to pursue the truth behind the circumstances of the killing of the three men.

The Fact Finding Mission on the Killings of Leonard Co, Sofrono Cortez and Julius Borromeo in Kananga, Leyte (FFM) had the following objectives: to establish facts and gather relevant information on the November 15, 2010 incident in Kananga, Leyte; to gather testimonies and observations from the people involved in the incident and to identify possible parties and individuals responsible for the incident. The following are excerpts from the findings of the fact finding mission.

The main tools of the FFM were the photo and video documentation taken and recorded during the site visit and key informant interviews. The FFM paid a courtesy call to the Mayor of Kananga town and conducted meetings with the Philippine National Police, the 19th IB, the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) staff and the families and neighbors of the survivors and victims. Other documents obtained during and after the FFM was also used to complete the report.

The FFM was divided into three groups. Team 1 interviewed the EDC personnel and primarily conducted the ocular visit of the site to gather more information, establish facts and gather possible evidence. Team 1 marked the locations with GPS units for proper geotagging. Team 2 made the courtesy call to the mayor and visited the communities where the families of the victims and survivors were. They also visited the family of Cortez in Baybay, Leyte. Team 3 visited the local PNP and was able to talk to Chief of Police Sr. Insp. Camacho and informed them of the plans to visit the site. They also visited the 19th IB headquarters and met with Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan at the gate.

The team observed the following from its interviews and incident site visit: The direction of bullet marks on the trees originated from a vantage point on the ridge above Leonard Co and his team. These bullet marks indicated that the direction of fire was bearing downwards towards Co’s team.

The tree (Tree No. 4) that Co’s team was studying was hit three times. A larger tree where one of the survivors hid had six bullet marks on it. The FFM team did not observe any bullet marks on the trees from the ground looking up to the ridge nor from any other side except from the vantage position.

The only consistent explanation for these key observations would be that the military was positioned on top of the ridge and firing towards Co and company. There was no indication of any crossfire. The failure of the military unit involved to provide immediate medical attention and hospital treatment to Julius Borromeo prolonged his agony and ultimately led to his death. The military waited at least one hour after they approached the position of Co’s team before bringing down the bodies and the survivor Gibe despite his repeated requests, as well as those of the then-alive Borromeo.

Supposing that the military indeed had intelligence information that there were NPA sightings on November 12 and that this was communicated to the EDC, what were the precautions taken to inform LC and his team who were already in the LGPF complex since November 9? Likewise, was the military informed of the team’s activities prior to the day of the incident?

These questions and others are still unanswered. Justice for Leonard and his companions remains elusive. The military should give a full accounting of what happened during that day and the names of the squad or platoon members that were involved in the shooting. The EDC should make public its records and protocols with regard to its security relationship with the military.

Tomorrow is International Human Rights Day. The deaths of Leonard Co and his companions are a reminder that we still have a long way to go with regard to attaining the free exercise of our rights in the country.

Shoot first

Editorial
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:10:00 12/05/2010

WHO IS the enemy, exactly? The New People’s Army, of course, according to the Philippine Army. And who is the NPA? Again, according to the Army, it could be anyone, particularly if he has already been killed in an Army operation. More importantly, anyone who gets caught in the crossfire is just unlucky—and none of it is the Army’s fault.

On December 2, Army soldiers in San Francisco, Lucena engaged in a gun battle with gunmen who had hijacked a bus after robbing a hardware store. Three civilian passengers on the bus were killed and in the immediate aftermath, the Army actually identified those three casualties as—you guessed it—members of the NPA, armed communist guerrillas.

Except that they weren’t. The police would make the correction later on, but the Army still maintained that NPA operatives had indeed been spotted in San Francisco. The Army seems to think it was an understandable error. The three civilians were unlucky enough to have been mowed down in the crossfire, but the military almost turned them into enemy combatants; it was a good thing that the police sorted it out, and maybe the military has gotten too used to identifying anyone it kills as communist insurgents, as if that is reason enough to forgive the killings.

Maybe we have let the military get away with using the red scare card just one time too many. Not only have we been slow to ask questions about the identity of casualties but perhaps we also let the Army shoot first and ask questions later.

Another recent tragedy involved one of our best and brightest: botanist Leonard Co was shot dead, along with two others, in yet another alleged crossfire between the military and communist insurgents on November 15 in Leyte’s Kananga town.

In the aftermath, the local Army commander, Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, said he regretted the deaths but justified the government soldiers’ presence in Kananga—they were, of course, hunting communist rebels in the area. “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.”

Again, the hunt for the bogeyman that is the communist NPA is carted out to explain away what may actually be another lapse in judgment on the part of the military. Maybe it is time to ask the questions again. Does the act of identifying the deadly encounter as a legitimate military operation make up for the fact that civilians are killed? Are we so used to the idea of innocent people dying as collateral damage every time the Army allegedly engages the insurgents? When will the numbers add up to action on our part?

The Commission on Human Rights has been keeping itself busy, looking into the often bloody result of encounters between the Army and the NPA. But the impunity, the sheer brazenness of the military classifying each and every encounter resulting in civilian deaths as a legitimate military operation may have been a product of our own indifference.

Perhaps it is our fault that the military gets away with this kind of thinking. We live in our own world, untouched by the idea of immediate danger or the loss of loved ones by accident, so we are content to let the military do whatever it deems necessary for its primary objective: to protect the people—even if it results in the death of those same people, as long as it is, of course, a legitimate military operation.

We have neglected those questions for way too long. Perhaps it is something inherent in us. So we have been taught to trust and support our authorities, even if we occasionally have to turn our heads and hide our disbelief in some of the military’s more implausible explanation. Much is expected of those we have entrusted with the duty of defending us, and it is required that they meet those expectations, perhaps even surpass them. We must not make excuses for them. Too many people have gone missing without proper accounting. Too many people remain in military custody. After all, if you ask the military, every town is crawling with insurgents and every casualty is an NPA agent.

The military serves an important purpose, but it must achieve that purpose without subterfuge or recklessness. It must admit errors when errors are committed, and stop hiding behind the ambiguous menace of the communist movement. We rely on the military for this, but we must learn to ask the right questions and it must give us the unobscured answers. The military must defend us, yes, and it must start by telling us the truth.

Leonard’s passion

Pinoy Kasi
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:12:00 12/03/2010

SOME TIME last year I was at the Sidcor Sunday market looking at household items from Japan. One tea cup caught my eye because it showed several plants arranged in a row. I looked closely and could tell from the Kanji (Chinese characters borrowed by the Japanese) that they were medicinal plants.

By some strange coincidence, I spotted Leonard Co as he walked past the stall. I knew immediately I had to get the cup for him because of the medicinal plants. I quickly paid for it and caught up with Leonard. “Here,” I told him, “a surprise.”
Leonard looked at the mug, and his face glowed, apparently recognizing they were medicinal plants. Then he looked closely at each plant, and began to give me the Latin scientific name of each of the plants!

That was the last time I saw Leonard alive. Three weeks ago, I got a text saying he had been killed in an encounter in Leyte. Later, the military claimed that he had been killed in the crossfire between government troops and the communist New People’s Army, but other witnesses are now saying the gunfire came only from the military side. Leonard and two other companions were working for Energy Development Corp. on a reforestation project.

I began to share some memories about Leonard last Wednesday, mainly around his work on medicinal plants. He went on to make his name in environmental conservation, his work recognized here and abroad. I shared that story of the Japanese tea cup to show the passion he had for botany, a passion he carried literally to the day he died, still gathering plants for environmental conservation.

He was always in a hurry, arguing that we were running out of time. It seemed like he wanted to catalogue every known plant in the Philippines, especially the ones that were endangered.

He knew he was beginning to make an impact on the mainstream, with the universities and with the private sector, and was always coming up with new ideas for projects. One time at the Sunday market, he told me he wanted to revive a small project I had started back in the 1980s, computerizing information on medicinal plants. I was surprised when he told me he still had the computer print-outs from that project. He had a way of keeping things going, networking people and places.

We tend to think of scientists in white gowns, working in laboratories. Leonard exemplified the field scientist, ever inquisitive, ready to climb mountains, ford rivers, court malaria. He was an adventurer, willing to take risks in search of something new, but he was not an adventurist, meaning someone who takes risks for the thrill alone. Leonard loved life, and had developed the intuition to stay alive.

He survived the Marcos dictatorship, working with community-based health programs that were (and still are) constantly being harassed by the military. There is irony that he died in a time when democratic rights have supposedly been restored.

But the area where he died is controlled by the 19th Infantry Battalion, notorious for what the American military would call “collateral damage,” civilians dying in “crossfire.” With so many claims of accidents from that battalion, questions have emerged as to whether there is a kind of Lost Command implementing a “shoot now, ask questions later” policy that characterized some elements of the military under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The death of Leonard under these circumstances casts a long shadow on our claims to being a free society. How can we be free when soldiers shoot down scientists—accidentally or not—who are willing to go out to remote rural areas?
Leonard’s death is ominous when you think, too, of the Morong 43, doctors and nurses and health workers, also committed to serving in rural impoverished communities, arrested and imprisoned on the basis of a defective search and arrest warrant earlier this year, and still languishing in detention under a new government. Arrest now, ask questions later?

Leonard, Tsinoy
I have to write about Leonard as a fellow Tsinoy or Chinese-Filipino. In the turbulent 1970s, our elders were always warning us against becoming involved in anything political, simply because we were of Chinese ethnicity and were vulnerable to being called “Maoists.”

A few of us did become politically active against the dictatorship, and yes, Leonard and I were fascinated with China and the Chinese experiences around science and health care, but our identities were rooted in the Philippines. The passion Leonard had for science was surpassed only by the passion he had for the Philippines.

In retrospect, I cannot remember ever having conversations with Leonard in Chinese. He would show me Chinese books on medicinal plants, or his notes, which would be partly written in Chinese (mainly plant names and their characteristics, as described in Chinese medicine) but we exchanged ideas not in Chinese, not in English, but in Filipino. Moreover, while Leonard looked much more Chinese than I did, and went to a Chinese school all the way through high school, his Filipino was far better than mine; I would say he spoke Filipino perfectly and being Leonard, that included punning and joking in Filipino.

I thought about all this during his wake in Funeraria Paz, surrounded by white cloth banners that had been put up, with Chinese characters expressing sorrow. The banners reminded me once again of the Chinese side of Leonard.

As I grieved for Leonard, I thought of two Chinese words used to describe one of the most painful kinds of sorrow: xang xin (pronounced sang sin), a wounded heart. I thought of my wounded heart, then, too, and of how his murder has inflicted a deep wound on the nation.

Leonard did run out of time, in this the International Year of Biodiversity, a cause to which he was so totally dedicated. He leaves many friends, colleagues, comrades behind who will continue his work and with his passion, but until we find justice, we will work with heavy, wounded hearts.

A correction to my Wednesday column: Dr. Perry Ong, director of the Institute of Biology at UP Diliman, e-mailed me to say that Leonard did get a degree in BS Botany, not BS Biology as I wrote. Leonard was the last to be awarded a botany degree in UP, giving new meaning to the expression, “last but not least.”

A botanists’ legacy

Rey Enano
Manila Standard Today
December 2, 2010

Leonardo Co, a world-renowned botanist and a reforestation project consultant of Energy Development Corp. until his death, has left a legacy that will immortalize his pioneering work. Co and best friend Daniel Lagunzad had just finished Forest Trees of Palanan, Philippines: A Study in Population Ecology 2006, a coffee table book commissioned by EDC.

Co and Lagunzad identified various flora and fauna in Palanan, Isabela, as part of a biodiversity project.

The same passion drove Co to do research in a forest in Kananga, Leyte, part of the geothermal reservation of EDC. Co, together with forest guard Sofronio Cortez and local farmer Julius Borromeo, were killed on Nov. 15 in an alleged crossfire between the Armed Forces and rebel group New People’s Army.

Co, among his many works, led the discovery of a number of endemic orchid species in Palawan. He reclassified the balayong tree, popularly known in the province as the Palawan cherry, as a legume from the Fabaceae family.

Federico “Piki Lopez, president and chief executive of First Gen Corp., the parent company of EDC, expressed his sadness over Co’s death.

“Leonard’s dedication and enthusiasm for his work is unparalleled. I’ve never seen such passion and dedication. We are deeply saddened by his untimely demise and it’s a tragic loss not only for the academe and scientific community but also for us in the Lopez group and the countless others who share the same goal of protecting and preserving the environment,” Piki said. “Nonetheless, Leonard’s legacy, his timeless works will live on.”

Leonard Co

Pinoy Kasi
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:20:00 12/01/2010

LEONARD CO’S life (which lasted a few weeks short of 57 years) was much too brief, but it was a life that overflowed with professional accomplishments and friendships.

Friends are ephemeral, ships passing by in the night as the saying goes. Leonard built friendships that spanned the years.

I knew him from the 1970s, the days of the dictatorship, working with community-based health programs that organized impoverished villages to improve their health care. Our common interest was medicinal plants, which the health programs were trying to promote for many reasons. There were the very practical considerations of medicinal plants being abundant, many quite effective, yet under-utilized. But there was more to the medicinal plants: In those very political days, medicinal plants were also a statement, speaking of nationalism, and self-reliance, a small but significant way of challenging the dominance of Western multinational drug companies.

As political involvement went in those days, we didn’t ask each other too many personal questions. I never met his family, never even knew where he lived. I had gotten to know him in Baguio, and knew he was always on the move, roaming the mountains collecting plants and identifying them.

Chinese doctor
His knowledge of medicinal plants was phenomenal, and not just in terms of botany. He was, really, a self-trained Chinese doctor. He devoured Chinese medical books, convinced that the right way to go with developing medicinal plants in the Philippines was to look at what the Chinese already knew. He would look up plants common to both China and the Philippines, and knew their properties in terms of Chinese medicine—this one “heat-dispelling,” the other “liver-nurturing,” for example.

I came to the plants from a different perspective. I had been assigned by the health programs to gather information from albularyos, and then look up whatever scientific research that had been done, especially around its chemicals.

Leonard had already compiled “A Manual on Some Philippine Medicinal Plants” (1977). There were beautiful illustrations accompanying botanical descriptions as well as medicinal uses, and the properties from Chinese medicine. It was an intriguing approach and I forced myself to relearn Chinese to be able to read Chinese books on traditional medicine, at least to pick out the plants that seemed to have the most potential.

Leonard was far more proficient with the plants, because both of his botanical background and his ability to read Chinese. He continued to work on medicinal plants for many more years, eventually authoring “Common Medicinal Plants of the Cordillera Region.” Although officially classified as a botany book (“QK 99” in the Library of Congress system), it could well have been classified as well under medicine, pharmacy or even anthropology. Packed into 487 pages are detailed descriptions of the plants, with even more lavish illustrations than the ones in the UP Botanical society manual, together with the plants’ uses, and types of preparations and doses.

Even more fascinating is a whole section on collecting and processing the plants into powders, syrups, tinctures, decoctions and even pills. The wealth of information in Leonard’s book is still used today in community-based health programs throughout the country.

Conservation
I rarely saw Leonard after the book came out, but our paths crossed many times. He eventually moved on to environmental conservation, where he made his mark as a taxonomist, a person who identifies and classifies plants. He worked for Conservation International, and while the office was once right next to a health NGO I was connected with, we rarely saw each other. He was often out in the field, with assignments stretching over several weeks, even months.

I heard more of Leonard than saw him, usually anecdotes about his encyclopedic knowledge of plants, and more importantly his passion for science. They were stories I heard again during the memorial services, including one about how he had called out, “Oh my Eugenia!” as he was almost being swept away by strong river currents, Eugenia being the scientific name of a group of plants, specimens of which he had just gathered. There was Leonard the nerd, the excitement at stumbling on ferns, which were his specialty, and launching a soliloquy to pay homage to the plants’ elegance.

The stories were about Leonard the person, much loved and respected. He was famous for his generosity with friends and students; yet he was also known for his simplicity, in particular his trademark Chinese cloth shoes. There was Leonard the entertainer, full of humor and wit and which didn’t exclude poking fun at himself, for example, his “membership” in the Ho Chi Minh Society, together with feigned lamentations about possibly ending up a perpetual bachelor like his idol. Eventually he did marry, and had a daughter, named after the Swedish scientist Linnaeus.

Rafflesia leonardi
In the era of texting, I could send a message to Leonard: “What’s the scientific name of that tree in front of the main library with bright yellow blossoms?” He would reply, giving a local, as well as the scientific name, and I could envision him again, his mind running through the botanical details like a computer.

Low-key as he was, his work did not go unrecognized. He was in demand among environmental conservationists and members of the academe. In 2008, he had a plant named after him, Rafflesia leonardi, and of course, he had to joke about that too, Rafflesia being known for its not too pleasant odor.

Two years ago, I had to give the keynote speech at the recognition ceremonies of the UP College of Science in Diliman. (Recognition ceremonies are smaller college-based ceremonies preceding the large university commencement.) I was surprised, and thrilled, to learn that Leonard was among the graduates. Through the 30-plus years I had known Leonard, I never knew he had not gotten his BS degree, his main stumbling block being a physics subject. The botany degree he was working on had long been abolished, so UP gave him a degree in biology. Given all that he had accomplished, he should have been given a doctorate, honoris causa.

I begged off speaking at two of Leonard’s memorial meetings, one at Funeraria Paz, and the other at the UP Church of the Risen Lord, so I’m going to make up by doing two columns—still all too little for someone who did so much in his lifetime. Bear with me again on Friday as I write about the meaning of the life and death of this scientist, nationalist and patriot.

Biodiversity Heroes

Written by: Lindo, Jean
Mindanao Times
Thursday, 25 November 2010

TODAY, November 25, 2010, is the commemoration of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. But this is a big day for Biodiversity in Davao City. While the women will hold a commemorative activity fighting gender-related violence, the Department of Environment, Department of Health and other government agencies together with Davao City Chamber of Commerce, Inc. and the Davao Medical Society will hold a Biodiversity Summit.

Since Biodiversity is the agendum of the day for the city, I will take the liberty of writing about the Heroes of Biodiversity, the people who do real work for the environment. They may be called the unsung heroes, but being unsung is no big deal for people like them. What is big deal is they are being treated as enemies simply because there are people who would not tolerate and appreciate intellectual diversity in the same way that biodiversity should be tolerated.

They do real work. Others do greenwash. Greenwash is the term whereby a product or a concept is deceptively introduced as green even if it is not. An example of greenwash would be the Green Revolution. That program was everything but green and everything but a revolution. It promoted the products of the big corporations which did not promote sustainable agriculture and was, in fact promoting polluting technologies. And it neither promotes change that translated to people’s empowerment, not even for the farmers, nor brings about social equity contrary to what a revolution is.

One such hero was Leonard Co, a brilliant botanist who was killed while doing the work for the conservation project of the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corporation. As the story goes, his team had the military clearance to enter the forest. He was with a forest guard, and guides who were farmers. Leonard was allegedly shot by a group of soldiers and he was even heard by the witnesses begging for mercy. The two others managed to escape the bullets.

I do not know Leonard Co personally, but I just happened to meet the guy while doing his usual work with the plants. I hosted his team while I was a medical student. I had this impression that he was a nerd and I noticed that he was reviewing his own book on plants and was writing his notes using Chinese characters. He studied tirelessly. I was a medical student then struggling with my medical book and retired much earlier than he did. I envied him for his energy, being able to continue reading and writing notes.

When I graduated from the medical school I worked with an Urban-based Community-based Health Program (CBHP), his books on medicinal plants became handy. It had the common name of each plant, the different names called by each plant in the different parts of the Philippines, the scientific name, the active ingredient, the therapeutic dose, the warnings on its toxicities, etc. I thought it was an amazing book and it helped a lot. There were instances when I was called by colleagues who started their residency training program and those who were moonlighting in the non-training hospitals. There were patients that exhibited toxicities. I remember one woman who took too much concentration of adelfa extract thinking that the plant had abortifacient effect. She sought admission at Calinan General Hospital (now Isaac T Robillo Memorial Hospital) then was transferred to the Davao Medical Center (then and now, Southern Philippines Medical Center). My colleague called me up to check for the active ingredient of adelfa which turned out to be digitalis. I called my colleague for her to be able to transmit the information to those managing the patient at DMC. The patient probably died manifesting the complications of digitalis toxicity.

I got to be familiar with the character of the author through a common friend who had the chance to work with him in Baguio. He was always remembered. Here was one brilliant person who contributed a lot in the field of medicine. It was his philosophy that the people should have access to health care and that the people in the underserved areas should have access to the medical knowledge and be able to utilize the plants when health care got to be too expensive and inaccessible to the poor. He was for peoples science. He was one of those group of scientists concerned about the proprietary rights of the people is the communities.

All of those involved in community health development work are still mourning as of this writing. People are raging why this brilliant individual had to be killed as a result of what seemed to be senseless paranoia. He maybe nameless and faceless to his killers, but to the scientific circle, environmentalists, development workers, and the people in the communities, his worth was more than the whole responsible battalion in Leyte. This rage inside me makes me think that if bullets had brain, they probably would have turned the other way. A meatflower, Rafflesia leonardi, was actually named after Leonard Co.

Another individual I would like to write about is an IP (Indigenous People) advocate and an environmentalist. Jean Marie Ferraris, for her great work on the environment and biodiversity had been subjected to harassment. She had been detained along with other environmentalists in Indonesia. Just recently she was again victim of red tagging. I came across a press release by Asian Human Rights Commission which stated that the communist label on an activist is a prelude to murder.

I had the honor to provide anesthesia care to her. I could not imagine why a gentle soul yet so courageous, has to be a target. She is an IP advocate and mining activist. She knows the implications of unbridled mining activities to biodiversity.

On this day when all peoples eyes in Davao are on the Biodiversity Summit at Marco Polo Hotel, I pay tribute to the two exemplary
individuals who do actual work for biodiversity beyond lip service. I swear they are not in this summit. Leonard Co is dead. Jean Marie may be alive but on doubtful security.

They are people who worked beyond conservation. They are gifted with the wisdom that biodiversity is also social justice issue.

Unfortunately, they are also among the endangered species.

Leonard, the ‘plant philanderer,’ lies among his treasures

Monday, 22 November 2010 20:44
Jeanmaire E. Molina, PhD
Business Mirror

I FIRST met Sir Leonard almost 10 years ago through Chico, who was my plant taxonomy instructor. Sir Leonard, who was then botanist for Conservation International-Philippines, was recruiting volunteers to help with field work out in the remote jungles of Palanan, Isabela, which entailed a 10-hour bus ride from Manila to Cauayan, and then a 30-minute Cessna ride over the Northern Sierra Madres.

My mom was worried about the trip so we decided to ask him what it was really like being out there, especially the malaria situation. Sir Leonard replied matter-of-factly, “Ah, wag po kyo mag-alala. Lahat naman po ng field biologists may malaria [Don’t worry, all field biologists have malaria].” Hearing this, we immediately drove to Mercury Drug so that I can start my dose of Aralen, a malaria prophylactic.

This was Sir Leonard. So dedicated was he, that malaria did not deter him. He took pride in having two strains of it in his system. Nothing stopped him—a throng of wasps, a turbulent ride on the six-seater Cessna a.k.a. the flying coffin, Signal No. 5 typhoons, even a shotgun to his face by an NPA rebel. Just to give you a sense of how intense this person was: One time he slipped while wading in the Palanan stream, hit his back so bad, but instead of squealing in pain, he shouted, “Yung Eugenia ko. May flowers ’yon!”, to alert us to save his collected plant from drifting away with the stream currents. When he had it back in his hand, only then he did he shout, “aray!”

As a young boy, Sir Leonard already knew what he wanted to do with his life. A natural historian at heart, he was collecting anything he could, from stones, bugs to plants. At 12 he had transformed part of his room into a makeshift herbarium to house one of his first plant collections, Oryza sativa, better known to nonbotanists as rice.

He was always fascinated by the diversity of life, and he knew plants were the scaffold that held it all together. He studied botany in college because he knew this was the only way he could get out into the woods, even joining the UP mountaineering club just so he could collect and add to his growing collection of dried plants. The mentorship of Benito Tan and Jose Vera Santos, two botany greats, only whetted his appetite even more—15,000 Philippine plant species and his dream was to know and catalogue every single one of it, and to make the world know of the Philippines’ incredible biodiversity before it was too late.

Sir Leonard’s energy and incredible, beyond-words type of love for botany and Philippine conservation were so strong that it just radiated out to anyone he met; and I can definitely speak for this, as well as my good friends, Sandra Yap, Hazel Consunji, Lorie Tongco, Ulysses Ferreras, and the dozens of other students he had touched one way or another. He was like a second father to us. He was “Tatay Chex” for Chekwa, our fond nickname for someone we adored. He was my dad in science, but I loved him like my own. He molded me into the person that I am now. He taught me everything I know about Philippine plants, which he knew like the palm of his hand. He was relentless in encouraging his students to pursue botany and conservation science, so that we can all fight for the cause of preserving every bit of Philippine biodiversity.

One thing that I will surely miss about him was his intimate knowledge of any Philippine plant species. There is no leaf or twig that you can show him that he won’t be able to give you the Latin name of, the shape of the scales or the hair type of its domatia, down to the pages of the Philippine Journal of Science where it was first published. If you ask him, “Sir, pano nyo po nalaman [How did you know that]?” He’d jokingly say, “Ah, binulong saken ni Merrill [Merrill whispered it to me].” Merrill was literally Sir’s American idol. He was an American botanist who devoted much of his life to the study of Philippine plants in the early 1900s.

His portrait hangs in the herbarium, where Sir Leonard would sleep most of the time. This was Sir’s second home, after the forests. No offense Tita Glenda (Leonard’s wife), but Sir was a plant philanderer! One time I asked him, “Sir, alin po mas mahal nyo, si Tita Glends o ang halaman [Sir, who do you love more, Tita Glenda or your plants]”. He scratched his head, paused for a while, and said, “Ang hirap naman ng tanong mo [That’s a tough question].” So much was his love for his science that he also named his only daughter after Linneaus, the great Swedish botanist of the 1700s!

There is no other Filipino botanist who comes close to Sir Leonard. He was the best of the best. Bar-none. Passionate is even an understatement to describe him. He was a self-made man; everything he knew he pretty much learned by himself, better than any PhD I’ve ever known. His passing is not just a big loss to his loved ones, but more so, a catastrophic loss to this country. Whoever is culpable for this has done our nation a great disservice because I’ve never known anyone who knew our plants the way he did, who had so selflessly given up anything for the cause of Philippine conservation, without any regard at all for personal gain or self-prestige. He is indeed a national treasure, an unsung hero.

It is ironic that he died while collecting forest seeds for reforestation projects. Maybe somehow he knew that some of the seeds he had planted and nurtured 10 years ago are now ready to carry on his mission.

I am one of those seeds and so are Sandra, Uly, Hazel, Lorie. Maybe it is time for us to plant our own seeds and train new students and enthuse others the way Sir Leonard did. May his death, instead of crippling the conservation movement, mobilize each one of us to continue fighting for our forests. This is the only way we can vindicate his death. This is the only way he would want to be remembered. We owe it to him, to ourselves and to this country. And as we leave here, may we all espouse the mantra he lived by, from the great Harvard sociobiologist, E.O. Wilson…

“Every scrap of biological diversity is priceless, to be learned and cherished and never to be surrendered without a struggle.”

Goodbye, Sir Leonard. I will really miss you. Thank you so, so much for giving me the invaluable opportunity to learn from you. We love you.  Nothing will ever be the same again.

Molina, now attached to New York University, was one of Leonardo Co’s research assistants when he first set up the biodiversity project in Palanan, Isabela, in 2001. She and several other UP biology grads who saw his work up close in the forests have been coming back each year during breaks in postgraduate work abroad, to follow up on their projects. This was one of the eulogies for the late, preeminent botanist, whose death by what the military called a “crossfire” in Leyte last week has sparked outrage. His ashes were scattered in Palanan.

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.

In praise of good men

At Large
By Rina Jimenez-David
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:15:00 11/21/2010

MANILA, Philippines—I met Prof. Leonard Co only once, in a press conference called by a group of San Beda alumni who were embarking on a tree-planting project along the North Luzon Expressway. But they weren’t going to plant just any trees. At the bidding of some conservationists and biodiversity experts, notably Professor Co, they were going to plant only indigenous species, some of which were already dying out because of the “competition” posed by foreign or non-native trees.

It turns out that in the course of the mania for reforestation, some groups had been planting trees that were not only ill-suited for local conditions, but in the case of certain “fast-growing” species, were rapidly crowding out indigenous trees and depleting the ground water supply.

The professor was present at the event to lend his expertise on what trees were suitable for planting along a busy highway with minimal tending.

But what I most remember of Professor Co from our brief exchange was not his expertise but his passion, expressed in curt, blunt expressions. When I told him I was interested in planting “Palawan Cherry” trees in my garden, he snorted that the tree “was neither from Palawan nor is it a real cherry tree.” He exhibited a wide breadth of knowledge about indigenous plants, and readily shared information on the state of the biodiversity of our flora and fauna.

I’m embarrassed to say that it was only upon his death—in a supposed “shootout” between the military and NPA rebels in Leyte—that I found out Co was not just any botanist but the country’s most respected and renowned botanist, a champion of biodiversity, devoting his life and inspiring hundreds of his students, even those who were already based abroad, to identify and document the country’s rich trove of plant life. Indeed at the time of his death, Co and his companions were searching for a native tree species suitable for a reforestation project, recalling echoes of that press conference where I encountered him.

* * *

IN A most moving tribute published in the Business Mirror and obviously written by a disciple of Co, the professor’s dedication to preserving the country’s disappearing legacy of biodiversity was illustrated thus:

“Nearly a decade ago, alarmed by field reports that one of the country’s last frontiers in biodiversity, a treasure-trove of plant life with immense implications for the country’s environmental future and economic life, was under threat as loggers were closing in on it atop the mountains of Palanan in Isabela province, Professor Co tapped into his wide network in academe, funding agencies (at one time a World Bank affiliate gave it a grant) and his army of students and followers, to focus, not just on saving that precious circle of life, but to inventory and tag plant species for future generations.

Through the years, his UP students, so inspired by his work, would keep coming back to the country each year to revisit the project and ensure it is sustained. Since many of them were bright students, several had gotten MA and PhD scholarships in top universities abroad; and yet, in the summer break, they would somehow find even modest grants, from institutions like the Smithsonian, just to be able to come back and work on the Palanan project just for a few weeks.

“It is said that a man’s true measure of greatness is not just in what he himself has done, but in how well he has inspired, or caused others, to rise above their own ordinary selves and do acts of greatness. In this light one sees the great life and work of Leonardo Co.” Reports have it that some of Co’s ashes will be spread over his “beloved Palanan,” and my wish is that the Pacific winds will blow them all over the islands whose riches Co had sought to preserve and protect.

* * *

SEEMS this is a column meant for praising good men. Allow me to put in a good word for Bong Austero, a senior vice president for human resources with the Philippine National Bank, who is in the running for president of the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP).

I’ve known Bong for decades, starting from the time we both served on the board of trustees of the Remedios AIDS Foundation and he still sported shoulder-length hair tied neatly in a pony-tail. I didn’t know he was into corporate work then, but I remember being duly impressed by his professionalism and empathy for the plight of people living with HIV/AIDS, especially those too poor to afford regular medications or care.

He is running for PMAP president, says Bong, “because I want to champion the cause of Filipino human capital. I really think it is about time that professional organizations such as PMAP boldly pursue advocacies to develop and manage Filipino human capital. People—Filipino talent—is the only remaining source of competitive advantage that we have as a nation as most of our other natural resources are gone (or going fast). But we don’t have a clear plan on how we can effectively harness Filipino human capital.”

Bong writes of what needs to be done to “address the mismatch,” including developing tools to forecast labor supply and demand, formulating concrete strategies to deal with the OFW phenomenon and the “brain drain,” and fixing the educational system to better respond to current and future trends.

“I am running for PMAP president,” he reiterates, “because I really would like to channel the capabilities and the power of PMAP in pursuit of a better future for Filipino human capital.”

Over the years, Bong has shed the long hair (or maybe age shed it for him?) and adopted a more “corporate” image, but it’s obvious the fires that burned in his soul as a student activist and human rights champion still burn as bright as before.

The irreplaceable 'Sayang-tist'

By Lourdes M. Fernandez
Editor in Chief
BusinessMirror Sunday edition, Nov. 21, 2010


LONG before he started schooling, Leonardo Co loved the outdoors and would often come home dirty and with scratches, clutching "treasures" in his pants pocket----all sorts of stones and plants.

“Ewan ko ba, pero maliit pa iyan, gustong gusto niyang maglibot at tumingin sa mga halaman. Napaka-curious niyang bata. Nung lumaon, dahil palagi niyang sabing inaaral niya ang mga halaman at gagawa siya ng experiment dito, tinawag siya ng mga kaibigan at kaklase na 'sayang-tist' [I don't know why, but even at a tender age he loved to check out plants everywhere he went. He was so curious. Soon, because he kept saying he'll do experiments with them his friends and classmates called him 'sayang -tist'],” said his mother, Emelina Co, referring to a play of words on the boy from Tagudin, Ilocos Sur, who would grow up to be a respected scientist with admirers from around the world.

It was only during the wake for the botanist, slain in what the military called a “crossfire” in a forested hill in Leyte this week, that Emelina said she and her husband, Lian Seng Co, realized how far this obsession with plants had taken their eldest, and only, son. 

The afternoon that BusinessMirror paid its respects to the man described widely as “one of the Philippines' top botanists,” his 85- year old father and two of five sisters were finalizing arrangements for the transfer of his remains from Funeraria Paz to the University of the Philippines for Saturday's necrological rites. Their plans had been altered by information that an autopsy was to be conducted on Co, because of conflicting versions of what really happened, as provided by the military and one of two companions of Co who survived the shooting.

The students, UP colleagues, as well as foreign scientists and conservationists at Co's wake on Friday were also torn with grief over the death of another admired botanist---his best friend Dan Lagunzad, who died of cancer just one day after bullets felled Co.

'Not just Filipinos' loss, but the world's'
AMONG those in the crowd who came to pay their respects was New York University post-graduate research scientist Jeanmaire Molina, a UP graduate who had served, for many years, as Co's research assistant in the special biodiversity project he helped set up and nurtured in Palanan, Isabela. Molina, who like her classmate Sandra Yap credited Co with helping get them started in obtaining post-grad studies abroad (both UP girls have PhD's) rushed home on news that their mentor, the man they considered their second father, had died an untimely, tragic death in the forests he loved all his life.

Since 2001, Co and some of his students and research assistants had cared for a precious plot in a site identified as one of the last biodiversity frontiers in the Philippines. The area has since doubled, and was at one time funded by a World Bank affiliate. It is one of a chain of biodiversity plots set up around the world by scientists and conservationists anxious about preserving what may very well hold the future of life on earth.

Dr. James V. LaFrankie, a colleague of Co who is based in La Union, said Co was “simply irreplaceable” in terms of both his commitment and his store of skills and experience. He repeated a phrase often used to describe Co: “a walking encyclopedia on Philippine plants,” and added that right after learning of the botanist's death in Leyte, he and colleagues from around the world all reacted with panic, “who we gonna call?” next time they need to consult on Philippine flora.

“He knew about Philippine plants more than anyone we know. Consider there are 10,000 different kinds of flowering plants in the Philippines. At age 56, you could fairly presume that someone like Leonard had a body of knowledge that was simply irreplaceable.

'A very honest man'
According to LaFrankie, who went to Co's wake on three successive days, Co was respected by foreign scientists and institutions “because he was a very honest man.” He was always “very careful, very precise” in dishing out information, disdained fluff or borderline claims in reports, and would very frankly tell an inquiring party 'I don't know' if he wasn't sure about something, though he'd be considerate enough to say he'll help the party look  into it.

To illustrate the level of professional respect Co enjoyed, LaFrankie cited world-class institutions such as the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard, the Kew Gardens in London and the Leiden in The Netherlands as among those that regularly consult the UP botanist.

Many of the foreign botanists sought him out because, whenever they came to the country, they knew exactly where to go and didn't lose precious time because Co would point them to the right place, depending on what they were interested to look at.

Though he had lots of friends in academe in Asean countries, Co had really focused most of his time and effort on Philippine flora--- which is rich and diverse enough, “with 7,100 islands,” to occupy a lifetime, noted LaFrankie.

Other colleagues had earlier noted Co seemed always racing against time to identify and tag plants across the archipelago, as if he had been given that task to give all creation a name. In Co's view, creation is for everyone, and it was his lifelong passion to help other scientists find ways to use plants to heal and nourish people. Some of his young followers, who had been returning to their Palanan, Isabela nursery each summer break from post-grad work abroad, tapping modest grants to help sustain it, had once confessed a dream they shared with the idealistic teacher: find a plant-based vaccine for dengue that can be available to millions of people around the world.

Yakking on Globe 'unli' for 2 hours
It's a measure of how much Co loved the Palanan plot that he had earlier told loved ones to spread some of his ashes over it if he dies---a wish he will soon get. In October, just before supertyphoon “Juan” struck, Co reportedly gave friends a scare because he stayed on the mountain even though meteorologists had forecast a direct hit on Isabela province. One Facebook posting after his death showed a smiling professor tending to his “babies,” the plants in the nursery, on the eve of the typhoon, preparing to batten down the place.

As LaFrankie recalled it, Co had apparently been staying at the mountaintop---accessible only by chopper or the “flying coffin” that research associates called their Cessna---days before the typhoon struck, and was updating his inventory and data files. “He was so excited about some of his new finds; it seems he had a new cell phone, and was eager to use his Globe 'unli' so he called me and started yakking about his plants for, I think, two hours.”

After the supertyphoon, when friends started to inquire about how he survived the storm, the story just went around that Co “tied himself to a tree.” Whatever happened, no one was surprised he could survive that, “because the forest was his life. Being with plants gave him the greatest joy.” It is thus so shocking for them to accept that he would be felled by bullets just for being with what he loved best.

Honor him with the truth
If the story of Leonard atop his beloved Palanan mountain during a supertyphoon amused his adoring friends and relatives, the still - unknown truth about what really happened to him in that heavily forested area in Leyte, on that fateful
Monday, is something that haunts them.

“Sana sabihin lang nila ang totoo. Huwag na silang magsinungaling. At huwag silang magbintang. Kung may nagkamali, aminin na lang. [I wish they'd just tell the truth, and not lie or blame the innocent. If someone erred, they must own up to their mistake],” said his father Lian Seng Co, 85, alluding to reports that there was really no crossfire because there was no encounter; and soldiers simply mistook Co's team for rebels. The old man had sobbed after kissing Leonard's image on the editorial cartoon in the BusinessMirror, and whispered quietly, “dapat sana ako nauna kay Boy [I should have gone ahead of my son Boy].”

The plea for the truth brings to mind a line in the Denzel Washington-Meg Ryan starrer “Courage under fire,” where Denzel, after finally putting together the authentic account of what went down in a forbidding desert in Iraq where a courageous US pilot had apparently been killed by friendly fire, said of the report, “If we wish to honor her courage, we can only honor her with the truth.”

No one can bring back what was lost with the death of the country's preeminent botanist. But if he lived all his 56 years teaching us eternal truths about life, creation and stewardship, the least he deserves is the truth about what happened on Monday.

Only the truth can teach us to avoid having the same tragedy befall the precious few young scientists who have followed in his footsteps.

Tragic Loss Amid Climate of Impunity

By CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO
Streetwise | BusinessWorld
Published on November 20, 2010

Leonard Co, unarguably one of the country’s foremost botanists and biodiversity experts, as well as an indefatigable conservationist, was killed in a forested area in Kananga, Leyte last Monday, together with two of his companions, while undertaking scientific explorations under the auspices of the Energy Development Corporation. Two others survived.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) immediately claimed that the three killed were “collateral damage” in a legitimate military operation against rebel New People’s Army (NPA) who had been sighted in the area.

More than seven years ago, also in Kananga town, nine civilians were reported by Tacloban human rights groups and people’s organizations to have been tortured and massacred by soldiers of the 19th Infantry Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Oscar Lactao, dubbed the “Palparan of Leyte”. The AFP reported the incident as an “encounter with the NPA”.

Human rights groups decried that eight of the victims were shot in the head, at close range, and that there was evidence of torture as shown by scald burns found on the victims’ bodies. Among the dead were Eugenio Tazan, 54-year-old peasant leader of the San Isidro Small Farmers Association, and 24-year-old Rowena Superior of the Bagalungon Small Farmers Association, who was three months pregnant. Four others killed were minors with ages ranging from 13 to 17.

In another infamous case in Palo, Leyte on Nov 21, 2005, a group of farmers resting by a make-shift warehouse before they start work on their plots were viciously attacked by elements of the 19th IB. Hurling five grenades and firing continuously for 30 minutes, the soldiers killed seven farmers, including a pregnant woman, and wounded several others. Not satisfied, the soldiers hit the survivors with rifle butts, forcing them to confess they were armed and members of the NPA. Failing to extract confessions, the soldiers brought in a sack of old rifles and claimed these belonged to the farmers, in the same fashion that the 16th IB PA planted firearms and explosives as evidence against the Morong 43 early this year.

As in most cases of human rights violations in the rural areas, the planners and perpetrators of the Kananga and Palo massacres remain unpunished despite numerous evidence and testimonies. The victims being ordinary folk have been consigned to oblivion, just another statistic in the government’s counter-insurgency drive, as “rebels” who had been properly “neutralized” or as “collateral damage”.

Apparently, this is what the AFP wants to happen in the case of Co and the two other victims, forest guard Sofronio Cortez, and farmer Julius Borromeo, who were acting as Co’s assistants. But since the military cannot impugn the character of Co nor raise questions about the legitimacy of his group’s presence in the virgin forest surrounding the EDC geothermal facility, their claim is that the victims were killed in the supposed crossfire between clashing soldiers and rebels.

Unfortunately for the AFP, such claims are being belied by the two survivors of the massacre. “I only heard a continued burst of gunfire. There was no answering gunfire. None. That was what I heard…,” said Policarpio Balute, a member of the Tongonan Farmers Association who served as Co’s guide.

According to Niño Gibe as recounted by Co’s wife, “(Gibe) said that when my husband tried to get up from the ground, another burst of gunfire hit him in the back.” “After the second volley of gunfire, Niño said he held up his hand as sign of surrender and shouted, ‘Tama na, tama na’ (Stop it), and the gunfire suddenly stopped,” the wife said.

Compare these eyewitness accounts to that of Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, commanding officer of the 19th IB who, in a press conference held in Tacloban, claimed that before the shooting started, his soldiers saw a person wearing black and holding an M-16 rifle, prompting them to assume a combat formation. Denying earlier reports that he said a soldier fired the first shot, Tutaan now says, “There was a volume of fire. The bullets ricocheted to different directions.”

Tutaan added that since early November, the 19th IB was on “heightened alert and always on a combat mode” because of intelligence reports that NPA members were planning to attack the EDC complex. He claimed that it was the EDC that had tipped them off on the presence of the NPA yet he also claimed they were uninformed that there were EDC employees in the area.

CENCOM Commanding General Ralph Villanueva betrayed the AFP’s mindset and default mode of shifting the blame to the NPAs, if not to the victims themselves, when he said that investigations are being conducted to determine whether the bullets that killed Co and his companions came from the soldiers’ rifles or from the NPAs. Assuming without granting that the bullets did not come from 19th IB firearms, how could he tell that these came from the NPA minus ballistic tests on such rifles?

Meanwhile the family of Co has raised pointed questions about the AFP’s version of what took place. They want to know why Co was allowed to enter the area if rebel presence had been reported there. And if the military was in such close coordination with the EDC with regard to their ongoing operations, why was Co not forewarned about imminent danger to his group of being “caught in a cross fire”?

Most poignantly, Co’s wife, Glenda asks in disbelief, “Nangyayari pa rin ang ganito kahit na sa ilalim ni Pnoy, bakit?” (“This is still happening under Pnoy’s administration, why?”)

The climate of impunity that pervades the entire AFP and other state security forces evidently emboldens them to continue perpetrating atrocities against perceived or even imagined “enemies”. Surely, the impunity with which the 19th IB had perpetrated several massacres and gotten away with them is behind this most recent tragedy.

The AFP has of late been attempting to refurbish its tarnished image with grand claims of upholding human rights.

A day after the killings, General Ricardo David Jr, AFP chief, proudly announced that the AFP was setting up human rights offices in all three major services – the army, navy and air force – and would designate HR officers down to the battalion level. The aim was purportedly “to demonstrate the AFP’s resolve and enhance its campaign in ensuring observance of human rights, international humanitarian law and the rule of law.”

However, an objective appraisal of these welcome words of institutional commitment to human rights in light of the AFP’s most recent actuations and track record leads to the inevitable conclusion that this latest pronouncement is nothing more than a public relations move.

It is in line with the so-called security sector reform being flaunted by Malacañang, whose aim is not really to reform the military, police and other state security forces but to clean up and improve their public image and make them more acceptable and credible.

How President Aquino, AFP Commander-in-Chief, will deal with this indiscriminate and wanton slaughter of a brilliant scientist and his assistants will again test his willingness and capacity to uphold human rights over and above the military’s protestations of innocence.

Who really killed leading botanist?

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc
The Philippine Star
November 19, 2010 12:00 AM

The military credibly must explain the slaying of renowned botanist Leonard Co in its supposed crossfire with communist rebels. Its reputation among thinking Filipinos depends on a deep inquiry. Scientist- and artist-admirers of Leonard bewail the violent waste of talent in a forest where he was doing research for the nation.

It’s unclear from initial reports if a gunfight did occur Nov. 15 in the mountain barrio of Lim-ao, Kananga, Leyte. What’s sure is why Leonard, biodiversity consultant of the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp., was there. He had set out with two EDC foresters and two guides to gather seed specimens for reforestation. EDC security, in protocol with the Army 19th Infantry Battalion in the area, had cleared their trek. Hours later shots rang out in the forest: Leonard, one forester and one guide fell dead. Leonard’s autopsy bared three bullet-entry wounds in the back. The Army reported to the local police a skirmish with insurgents.

Questions beg answering: who shot the three? Why would knowing foresters and guides venture into perilous grounds? What proof is there of a firefight? Why are official statements contradictory? Where are Leonard and companions’ personal belongings?

Battalion commander Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan had dispatched the patrol to Lim-ao three days before. This, he says, was on appeal of EDC security, fearing the presence of marauders. The company denies making such request. Tutaan reportedly admitted in a press briefing that a soldier fired the first shot upon spotting strangers with long arms. So presumably the troops had taken down at least one enemy, yet no rebel fatality was presented. At any rate, the patrol appears to have lain in ambush, a clear violation of human rights. Tutaan later denied ever stating that the first volley came from their side. EDC personnel raced up the forest trail to recover their slain and surviving colleagues. Leonard’s mobile seems to have been taken by a Jejemon texter.

Leonard was one of UP’s brightest products. He avidly had studied Sierra Madre’s flora, including a giant flower later named after him, rafflesia leonardi. He wrote books identifying native medicinal plants of Cordillera and Palawan mountain tribesmen. Only 56, he would have done more for Philippine science had he not been killed. “We are very, very remorseful over what happened,” Tutaan says. The nation also wants the truth.

* * *

My articles on land disputes in Quezon City incited readers to report horror stories of violations of their property rights. Quite interesting is the legal row over Sombrero Island off Aborlan, Palawan. Locals, among them Manuel Palanca Jr., had applied for and were granted homestead patents over portions of the 18-hectare island between 1972 and 1996. But when they officially got their land grants, one George Katon asked the court to nullify their titles and revert the holdings to the state. Katon claimed that he had sole right to apply for a homestead patent over the entire island. This, he said, is by virtue of his having asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to survey the island 35 years ago.

The Supreme Court eventually ruled in favor of Palanca’s group. Still I found intriguingly familiar the name of one of Katon’s lawyers, Manuel Abrogar III. I later remembered that he is one of the lawyers of the spouses Manahan, counter-claimants to the controversial Manotok Compound in QC that I have written about.

Knowing the parties behind an issue can explain its facets. It’s much like knowing who stood to gain had that infamous NBN-ZTE deal pushed through. The Manahans’ is similar to Katon’s case in that their claim was made many decades after their ancestors supposedly bought the land from the government. In fact, the Manahans filed a petition to intervene in the Manotok property suit after 73 years. Aside from such details, Abrogar represents both Katon and the Manahans as “collaborating counsel.” In the Manotok case it was he who asked the DENR to have the National Bureau of Investigation authenticate pertinent documents.

The request was made after an NBI chemist opined that the Manotok documents were “not as old as they purport to be, and therefore spurious.” The chemist said a paper chromatography test showed that the document had ballpoint pen and sign pen ink that came into use only after World War II. She forgot to mention that the ink came from an aniline “certified true copy” stamp, dated “2-25-99”, of the DENR Land Management Bureau. The chemist also withheld that, of all submissions, only the Manahan document bore a watermark of the American colonial administration. Curiously the emblem American eagle held arrows in its right talon and an olive branch in the other, the opposite of the design defined by US law. On the basis of the chemist’s tale, the SC this year returned to the national government the titled Manotok land.

Last September Abrogar again asked the DENR to have the NBI examine another document. This time the new NBI director Magtanggol Gatdula declined, since the submission is a mere photocopy from which “no definite opinion can be rendered.”

* * *

 “Sometimes the person wronged suffers less than the person who did wrong.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

* * *

Leonardo Co

BY MA. ISABEL ONGPIN
Manila Times
Friday, 19 November 2010 00:00

I met him only three times. It was difficult to make an appointment, Leonard Co was always in some forest, inaccessible, incommunicado, absorbed in the study of Philippine trees and plants. He was the botanist par excellence with the passion, the erudition, the love of plants and trees. He was a nationalist with a particular inclination to protect and conserve our endemic flora.

When I first met him I knew I was in the presence of a nation builder, a botanist who knew the flora of this country beyond science to total personal involvement, intimate experience of its habitats, working to provide for its future with present effort. He was an education to his fellow workers, fellow citizens, fellow botanists. And yet meeting him face to face was to meet a storyteller describing the magic of the forest in understandable vernacular, using the native names of trees and plants, not the scientific names, that a lay person would have trouble with. He never was the forbidding erudite scientist talking down to the ignorant.

He was the expert, the experienced, an eminence. But you would see an ordinary man, someone quite unacademic on the surface. He brought along no portfolio, no notebook, almost no ballpen. To explain a location, he would reach for a paper napkin and sketch on it. To describe a tree leaf, he would draw it.

 To illustrate the colors of flowering trees his hands moved and his eyes lit up. He was summoning the magic of nature, the wonder of the great outdoors, the forest dotted with mountains and streams, birds and insects, the dark earth, the fallen leaves, silence, fertility.

We were supposed to go out there. We had a project a-borning. He was to be the essential catalyst.

Palanan forests were his highest expertise. To get there he would take a bus, fly on a small plane, sleep in some hut that had seen better days, trek for hours after an uncomfortable night, come back to make-do meals and relentless mosquitoes.

He did not complain or sigh about these circumstances. He just narrated them matter-of-factly, they were part of his work environment. Meanwhile we figured that we would have to bring mosquito nets, mosquito repellent, protective clothing, trekking boots, hats, medical supplies, food to sustain us and to enjoy in order to overcome hardship. Alas, it was not to be. The trip was postponed and postponed as he waited for the funding, an occupational hazard he knew how to bear, that would drive us to distraction. The rains came, the summer left. Still no funds. It was to be next summer for us. But Leonard eventually went. Next summer will come, the trees will bloom but Leonard Co has made his last trip.

Last Monday, he was killed in Tongo-nan, Leyte in some crossfire in the forest in circumstances that remain unclear.  He died in a forest, where he set his life. We have forests and this non-pareil forester and what have we done with them? Whence will another Leonard Co come to teach us so consummately to save our world and ourselves?

He had an idea about the pattern of the book we were trying to put together. Let it be a story for a child, he said. A tale about the forest and its wonders, showing its beneficence now and in the future, a presence that nurtures and should be nurtured back. We understand Leonard, now we will try to do it as you said. It will be harder without you but for love and memory of you, we will try.

Remembering Leonard Co

By Rey Claro Casambre
Pinoyweekly.org
November 18, 2010

I first met Leonard in 1975, when he was still in his third year as a botany major in UP. He belonged then to a group of bright and dedicated activists who were either undergrad majors or graduates of botany or zoology. This group in turn was part of a larger network of Filipino scientists and technologists who were all committed to using their scientific and technical knowledge and skills to serve the Filipino people. At that time, it meant being part of the Filipino people’s resistance against the Marcos dictatorship, and of their struggle for an independent, genuinely democratic and just society.

The group to which Leonard belonged had decided to undertake a study of medicinal plants in the Philippines, with the aim of eventually contributing to the popularization of local herbal medicines and the production of medicines from readily available and accessible materials. This would greatly benefit the majority of Filipinos in the countrysides where doctors and western medicines are scarce.

To this end, Leonard played a key and major role in the group’s compiling and publishing the first authoritative manual on medicinal plants.   The group worked on this diligently for at least five years, publishing the mimeographed 8 1/2 x 13 ”Manual on Some Philippine Medicinal Plants” in 1977.  The manual was published in the name of the UP Botanical Society, to which many in  the group belonged.

As far as we know, this was a pioneering and seminal work.  Not long afterwards some botanists published printed and glossy books on Philippine medicinal plants.  But none of them could compare to the wealth of material in the original 1977 Philippine Medicinal Plants manual.

Leonard was one of two highly expert field botanists in that group and was the only one left after the other went abroad to study and work.  He was perfect for the job.  While still an undergraduate doing field research,  Leonard had already discovered new species and varieties of Philippine plants which were eventually credited to and named after the professors under whom he worked.  Even then,  few could match, much less surpass, Leonard’s mastery of Philippine flora. Needless to say,  Leonard was the one in the group who would identify with certainty which medicinal plants that were catalogued in other countries are also found in the country, and in which particular area or forest in the Philippines.  Undoubtedly, this was his passion.

There was never a dull moment when Leonard was around, with the enthusiasm with which he performed his duties in the group, his intense and ever-active mind and his frequently troubled heart.  In the groups meetings and while working, there was always seriousness, punctuated with laughter, interspersed with discussions of his courting woes, and garnished with delicious chinese food (the family owned and ran a chinese restaurant in Caloocan then).

After the Marcos dictatorship was overthrown, I met Leonard again only a couple or so times. The last one was a few years back when my wife and I chanced upon him outside his workplace at  Pavilion 4 of Palma Hall at UP, and he eagerly invited us in to a cup of excellent brewed coffee. While showing us his bottled and catalogued collections, he related how he had concentrated on his scientific endeavors, working with various NGOs and at UP, and intimated how his constant field work and exposure to the countryside has kept his aspirations for a just and free society alive and burning.