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Lawmaker eyes congressional probe on botanist's killing


A party-list lawmaker is planning to seek a congressional inquiry into the deaths of noted botanist Leonard Co and two of his companions in Leyte last November. Rep. Antonio Tinio of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers party-list urged the House committee on human rights to conduct its own investigation after a Department of Justice (DOJ) panel cleared the military in the deaths of Co, forest guard Sofronio Cortez, and farmer Julius Borromeo. The military claimed the three were killed in crossfire when soldiers clashed with communist rebels on Nov. 15, 2010. At that time, the three were cataloging plant species in the forests of Kananga for Energy Development Corp. (EDC). “Given the seeming inability of the [Department of Justice] to come out with a credible report, it becomes even more imperative for the House to immediately conduct its own investigation in order to attain justice for the victims and their families," he said in an article posted Sunday on the ACT website. On Saturday, Malacañang said Co’s family is free to contest the DOJ findings. Tinio, however, said the DOJ report “blatantly whitewashes the role of the military in the killing of Co and his companions." “The whole report is riddled with glaring contradictions, logical fallacies, selective appreciation of eyewitness testimony and physical evidence. Its conclusions are based on assertions unsubstantiated by fact. It’s all too clear that the report bends backwards to accommodate the military’s self-serving account of the incident," he said. He cited the report’s “conclusion of fact" that the bullets that killed Co and company “were not fired from the position of the military" who were occupying the higher ground because the bullets “were found to have come from the lower area as indicated by their trajectories." Also, he denounced the report’s conclusion that “the military or state forces could not be charged with criminal acts because their activities in the area were due to a legitimate military action." “This is an outrageous statement coming from a team of state prosecutors whose responsibility it is to determine whether or not the military unit in question acted in accordance with law," Tinio said. Tinio urged Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to thoroughly review the report. “We hope that justice and fairness will prevail, and that the Secretary will see that this report cannot be allowed to stand." - KBK, GMANews.TV

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