The Philippine Online Chronicles

Soldiers implicated in the deaths of top botanist Leonard Co and two others have insisted that the victims were caught in legitimate crossfire during the continuing Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into the incident.

Co and four others were conducting a biodiversity research activity in Kanaga, Leyte in November last year when they were gunned down.

According to 1st Lt. Ronald Odchimar of the Army's 19th Infantry Battalion (IB), they had been engaging a group of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, when Co, Sofronio Cortez and Julio Borromeo were caught in the crossfire.

He said that the soldiers were walking towards their “objective” when they saw the presence of “three armed (men).”

“We saw the enemies,” Odchimar said in Filipino. “Based on the gunfire that we accounted [for], there was really retaliation from the enemies.”

An earlier probe by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and another fact-finding investigation by the DOJ separately concluded that an encounter had indeed taken place, and cleared the soldiers of accountability.

The victims’ families however, insist that there were no rebels present during the gunfire and that the soldiers were responsible for the victims’ deaths.

Odchimar, together with 2nd Lt. Cameron Perez, Cpl. Marlon Mores, Private First Class Albert Belmonte, PFC Michael Babon, PFC Elmer Forteza, PFC Roger Fabillar, PFC Gil Guimerey, PFC Alex Apostol and PFC William Bulic will be confined to barracks in Metro Manila for the duration of the preliminary investigation, said their counsel, Atty. Roy Perez.

The soldiers earlier failed to appear during an earlier DOJ panel session, saying that they lacked the resources to go from Leyte to Metro Manila.

Standing motions

The Co family counsel, Atty. Evalyn Ursua, reiterated an earlier motion filed by the complainants asking the DOJ to require the Army's 19th IB to submit the names of all officers and enlisted personnel who were part of the military operation on the day Co and company were gunned down.

The complainants have placed the number at 38 soldiers, although Odchimar claimed there were only 36 of them - 2 officers and 34 enlisted men.

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) [top officials] has an obligation to disclose the names of the soldiers. That is a state duty … because they claim it was a legitimate military operation,” said Ursua.

Ursua also reiterated the complainant's request for the submission of the memorandum receipt on all firearms used by all operating troops that day, as well as the logbook which indicates who participated in the operation and firearms issued to them.

“They say that only nine (weapons) were fired. We don’t take it as truth but as a mere claim,” she said, adding that the guns used have to be analyzed to determine how Co and the others were killed.

The DOJ panel has also been asked to consolidate the cases filed by the Co family and another complaint filed against the soldiers by the Philippine National Police (PNP). The police case, filed on January 4 in Tacloban City, is pressing charges against the soldiers for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and frustrated homicide.

The panel has yet to decide on these matters.