Hustisya, an organization of families and friends of victims of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations, joins the family and colleagues as well as environmental defenders in demanding justice for slain botanist Leonardo Co, even as they decry the glaring injustice in the government’s continuing failure to hold his killers accountable.
Co, who led a four-man team conducting research at a forested area in the Manawan-Kananga Watershed in Leyte, was killed with forest guard Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo by operating elements of the 19th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) on November 15, 2010.
The 19th IBPA soldiers claimed that Co and his companions were caught in the crossfire in an encounter with the New People’s Army, but both the survivor and investigators averred that there was no crossfire, and the soldiers had targeted Co and his party directly. Co’s family, along with supporters, protested the military’s claim of a crossfare and filed murder charges against the 19th IB. The Department of Justice (DOJ), however, downgraded the charges to reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.
“There are many ways by which impunity rears its ugly head, and one of them is for the justice system to downgrade charges against perpetrators and then drag its feet in wrapping up the cases,” said Hustisya secretary general Ofelia Balleta. “The wounds of injustice continue to fester as Co’s family, colleagues and supporters have already endured 14 years of waiting for the case to be resolved.”
“To fight for justice for Leonardo Co is to fight the climate of impunity that has shielded perpetrators of human rights violations for so long,” said Balleta. “We will persevere in all efforts to attain justice for Leonardo Co, Sofronio Cortez, Julius Borromeo and all other victims of extrajudicial killing and exact accountability from their killers,” she concluded.