Slain botanist inspires 10-day forest expedition on foot

A team of Filipino scientists, mountain trekkers, and nature enthusiasts will be embarking on a 10-day expedition along the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in Isabela as a tribute to slain botanist Leonard Co. "The Palanan Co Sierra Madre Trek, a wilderness adventure and scientific discovery, is a tribute to the life and work of a great Filipino botanist and a national treasure, Leonard Co," said Darwin Flores, Co's brother-in-law. Flores, who is also the expedition convenor, said the 10-day activity – which includes a seven-day Palanan to San Mariano trek – is also dedicated to the protection and conservation of the last great forest in the Philippines, located at the Northern Sierra Madre Nature Park. He said the expedition team will journey to the coast of Palanan, Isabela, on Saturday (April 16) via a 10-hour bus ride from Manila to Aurora and another 10-hour Navy boat ride to the coast of Palanan. A memorial mass will then be held for Co on April 17 at a town church near Palanan. On the following day, the expedition team, together with Co's family and friends, will trek to the 16-hectare forest dynamics plot that the late botanist worked on, where they will scatter the last third of his ashes as he wished. The team will start the trek on April 19 at the foothills of Palanan and journey to the peaks of the the western side of Sierra Madre Mountain Range in San Mariano, Isabela. Flores said the trekkers will be guided by the local friends of Co. The expedition team is expected to arrive at the San Mariano town on April 25, Monday, and Manila the day after. Flores said the entire expedition can be monitored through their Facebook account, where there will be daily video uploads courtesy of Smart Communications, Inc. Co, forest guard Sofronio Cortez, and guide Julius Borromeo were killed at the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) premises in Kananga, Leyte, in November last year. The military had claimed that the three were killed in a crossfire between the 19th Infantry Battalion and New People's Army (NPA) rebels. But Co's family said they do not believe the military because the Army's shooting was supposedly "specifically directed only at Co, Borromeo, Cortez and their companions." DOJ panel eyes inspection of EDC compound Co's family has filed with the Department of Justice a murder complaint accusing 38 members of the 19th IB of murdering Co and his two companions. On Thursday, the DOJ panel of prosecutors handling the murder complaint said that it may go to the site where Co and his companions were killed. In an interview with GMA News Online, Senior State Prosecutor George Yarte said that an inspection may be underway following the submission of the counter-affidavits of the Army soldiers charged for the killings. "We are going to analyze and determine whether to conduct an ocular inspection in the area. We are of the initial opinion that we need to see the site because of the intricacies involved in the case. Under our manual for prosecutors, the ocular inspection and clarificatory hearings may come in after the submission of the counter-affidavits," Yarte said. — LBG, GMA News