WE mark today one year since our top beloved botanist Leonard Co and his companions, forest guard Sofronio Cortez and farmer guide Julius Borromeo, were shot dead by members of the 19th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Kananga, Leyte province.

A whitewash-- this is how the scientist group AGHAM-Advocates of Science and Technology for the People called the findings of the Department of Justice fact-finding panel that cleared the military of any wrongdoing on the death of Leonard Co, forest guard Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo last November 15 in Kananga, Leyte.