Top botanist killed in crossfire

Injured Killed
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Date: 15 November 2010
Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20101117-303662/Top-botanist-killed-in-crossfire

ORMOC CITY—One of the country’s top botanists and two of his companions were killed in a reported crossfire during an encounter between the military and communist rebels in a forested area in Kananga, Leyte, on Monday.

Leonardo L. Co, 56, a specialist in plant taxonomy and ethnobotany who was serving as biodiversity consultant of Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. (EDC), was gathering specimen seedlings of endangered trees with a five-member team of civilians when he was shot, according to Manuel Paete, EDC resident manager.

Paete identified the other fatalities as Sofronio G. Cortez, a forest guard of EDC-Environmental Management Division, and Julius Borromeo, a member of the Tongonan Farmers Association (Tofa).

Insp. Jedol Camacho, Kananga police chief, said Army soldiers belonging to the 19th Infantry Battalion (IB) reported to the police that they had encountered unidentified armed men in Barangay Lim-ao in Kananga.

He would not say if the bullets that killed the three civilians came from the firearms used by soldiers. A police investigation was still ongoing, he said.

“It was a legitimate military operation. But we are very, very remorseful over what happened,” Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, commanding officer of the 19th IB, said in a phone interview.