CHR chief questions ‘inconclusive’ report on botanist’s slay

Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Loretta Rosales on Monday questioned the supposedly “partial" and “inconclusive" report of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) absolving the military for the death of botanist Leonard Co in Leyte last year. Rosales questioned the NBI report after Special Investigator Rizaldy Rivera said during a public hearing on Monday that only nine out of the 36 firearms carried by soldiers on the day the botanist was killed have been examined. “Could it be possible that the 27 firearms not examined could have been the source of bullets? Can we say that so far, the investigation has been inconclusive?" she asked the NBI official during the hearing. Rivera responded by saying that the NBI “had no control" of the number of firearms that they examined because the military only submitted nine weapons for the NBI probe. “According to the military, only nine personnel were involved in the firefight, so only nine firearms were examined... We have no control of that," he said. He added that the NBI report submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the botanists’ death was “conclusive based on the submitted firearms." Rosales however said the NBI should have insisted on examining the rest of the weapons to be able to come up with a “thorough" report. “As NBI, isn’t it incumbent upon you to be as thorough as possible to get to the truth?" she told the NBI official. CHR officials are still grilling investigators from the NBI in the public hearing as of posting time. Co, along with forest guard Sofronio Cortez and guide Julius Borromeo, were killed in clash between Army soldiers and communist rebels in Kananga town in Leyte on November 15 last year. The DOJ cleared last month the military of any liability in Co and his companions’ death, saying that NBI ballistics tests showed that none of the firearms submitted by the Philippine Army matched the bullets recovered from the bodies of the three victims. The family of the slain botanist has filed murder raps against the 38 Army soldiers in the firefight, and has also asked DOJ chief Leila de Lima to reverse its resolution absolving the military. – VVP, GMA News