THE parents of slain botanist Leonardo Co have asked the Department of Justice to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death and those of his two companions when they were allegedly caught in a crossfire between soldiers and communist New People’s Army rebels in Kananga, Leyte on Nov. 15.
In a letter to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima dated Nov. 19, Co Lian Seng and Emelinda Legaspi-Co blamed the military for the death of their eldest child and only son and his two companions, Sofronio Cortez, a forest guard at the Energy Development Corp., and Julius Borromeo, a member of the Tongonan Farmers Association.
“Kami pong mga magulang ni Leonardo Co ay humihingi ng tulong sa sambayanang Pilipino sa pamamagitan ng tanggapang iyong pinamumunuan upang mabigyan ng katarungan ang pagpaslang sa aming walang kalaban-laban na anak na panganay at kaisa-isang anak na lalaki sa kamay ng mga sundalo habang siya at dalawa pa niyang mga kasama ay tahimik na nagsusuri ng mga puno at halamanan sa Kananga, Leyte sa kanyang gawain bilang botanist nuong ika-15 ng Nobyembre, kasalukuyang taon (We, the parents of Leonardo Co, are asking for the help of the Filipino people through your office to give justice to the murder by soldiers of our eldest and only son, a botanist, and his two companions while they were quietly inspecting the trees and plants in Kananga, Leyte last Nov. 15).”
They also said,“Hindi po kami naniniwala sa pahayag ng sandatahang lakas na nagkaroon ng palitan ng putok ang mga sundalo at mga kalaban ng pamahalaan na ikinasawi ng aming anak na si Boy (We don’t believe the claim of the soldiers that there was an exchange of gunfire between them and the rebels which caused the death of our son, Boy).”
Earlier, the couple made the same appeal to Loretta Ann Rosales, chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, which has started the investigation. The CHR deputized forensic pathologist Rachel Fortun to autopsy Co’s body before it was cremated last Tuesday.
The University of the Philippines Alumni Association expressed “grief and indignation” over what it described as the “senseless” killings.
The letters of the Co couple to De Lima and Rosales were sent through Teresita Ang-See, spokesperson of the Citizens Action against Crime, who said the three were apparently the victims of “false and flimsy” intelligence information and “summarily executed on suspicion that they were NPAs (rebels).”
Ang-See said Co was reportedly shot in the back and feet.
Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, commander of the 19th Infantry Battalion, said the soldiers were engaged in a legitimate military operation.
But he admitted that one of the soldiers fired first because they saw a man dressed in a black jacket and holding a long firearm.
Kananga police chief Jedol Camacho said the Army soldiers had reported to the police that they encountered unidentified armed men in Barangay Lim-ao in the town.
Darwin Flores, Co’s brother-in-law, said the family would like to know what really happened since he was informed that there was an existing security protocol between EDC and the local military.
The Co family agreed to postpone the botanist’s cremation in order to have an autopsy conducted on his remains.
Co, a biodiversity consultant of the EDC at the time of his death, was considered among the country’s top specialists in plant taxonomy and ethnobotany. He was also president of the Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society, a museum researcher at the University of the Philippines Institute of Biology, and author of books on medicinal plants and forest trees.
The UP Alumni Association said Co’s death was a huge loss in a country where there are only a few plant taxonomists.
Co’s colleagues consider Co “peerless” in his knowledge of Philippine plants, said Ang-See.
“No one can equal the work that he had already done and the encyclopedic knowledge he had already gathered on Philippine plants,” she said.