CHR chief unconvinced military not liable for botanist's death

Commission on Human Rights chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales on Friday said she was not convinced that the military was not liable for the death of top Filipino botanist Leonard Co and two other civilians in Leyte in November. "Why should I be totally convinced? I'm still gathering the positions... our position is we have to exhaust all data before we can up with a conclusion," Rosales told reporters in an interview at Camp Aguinaldo. She issued the statement after a Department of Justice (DOJ) fact-finding panel on Thursday cleared the military of any liability from the killing of Co, forest guard Sofronio Cortez, and guide Julius Borromeo. The military said the three were killed in a crossfire when Army soldiers encountered suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in the area on Nov. 15, 2010. The DOJ said ballistics report from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) indicate that none of the Philippine Army's firearms matched the bullets recovered from the bodies of the victims. Rosales, however, said they had listened to a witness who claimed that there was no crossfire and that the firing came from only one direction — the miltary's. "That’s their (the DOJ-NBI's) position... but as I said, I am not concluding that there was no crossfire," she said. CHR inquiry The CHR chief said they have yet to consolidate all the investigation reports and that they are still set to conduct their own inquiry on the matter on January 26 and 27 in Tacloban City, Leyte. She said they will conduct their probe in Tacloban so that they will be able to talk to the soldiers who were involved in the shooting. Those involved in the incident were from the Army's 19th Infantry Battalion. "We want to get their statements, after weve gathered all of these and if we feel that we will need another inquiry then well do so but if we feel that we can gather all of these that is the only time that we can come up with our analysis and with our final position on the matter," she said. She explained that they plan to find out whether there really was a crossfire and where the bullets which killed the victims came from. Rosales likewise said they plan to study the security policies and enforcement of international humantirian laws of the military and of the victims' employer Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. (EDC). On Thursday, the DOJ panel found the EDC liable for reckless imprudence that resulted in the death of the victims because the firm supposedly failed to undertake "necessary precautions" despite being aware of communist threat. EDC denied the allgetion and said it was dismayed with the results of the findings. Justice Sec. Leila de Lima said she still has to go over the full report of the panel, which was headed by Assistant State Prosecutor Diosdado Solidum, Assistant State Prosecutor Bryan Jacinto Cacha, and NBI Death Investigation Division head Romulo Asis. — RSJ, GMANews.TV