Leonard Co friends, kin: Impunity continues

Families and friends of murdered botanist Leonard Co have lambasted the Aquino administration for its failure to bring to justice the perpetrators of the crime.

Marking the first anniversary of the killing, members of the Justice for Leonard Co Movement staged a protest rally in front of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday and called on Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to order the immediate resolution of the murder complaint filed against members of the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion.

Dr. Giovanni Tapang, the group’s convenor, assailed the purported inaction of President Aquino to put an end to extrajudicial killings which, he said, only “perpetuates the culture of impunity that has reigned in the country.”

“Despite his promise of ‘tuwid na daan,’ President Aquino has failed to change how the previous administration acted on cases of extrajudicial killings involving soldiers,” Tapang said.

Tapang claimed the evidence gathered by a fact-finding team composed of scientists and human rights advocates were enough to file a multiple murder case against the soldiers accused of killing Co and two of his guides.

On the anniversary of his death, officials and employees of the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) were supposed to hold a Mass for the slain botanist who was a consultant of EDC at the time of his killing on Nov. 15 last year.

Co and two of his companions, forest guard Sofronio Cortez and Julius Borromeo, a member of the Tongonan Farmers’ Association, were killed in a forested area in Kananga, Leyte, while conducting a survey in the forest for an EDC reforestation program.

Sheryl Cortez, daughter of Cortez who works as watershed technician for the EDC, said the company sponsored the Mass held at the EDC nursery. Sheryl worked for EDC as a watershed technician since February 2010.

EDC has been spending for the education of Jocelyn Borromeo, the eldest daughter of the other victim Julius, and her school-age siblings starting June this year. Jocelyn is taking up Bachelor of Science in Animal Science at Visayas State University.

Asked if the family has moved on a year after her father’s death, Sheryl said they have not fully recovered.

Sheryl said the family has not filed a case against the military because they did not have the money needed to pursue the case.

The focus of the Cortez family was to find ways to sustain the education of their 17-year-old youngest brother, Sam, a student of STI College.

EDC manager Manuel Paete said the EDC has invited the Borromeo family to attend the Mass. With a report from Elvie Roman Roa, Inquirer Visayas