Quezon City, 15 November – Botanists and advocates gathered today at the Institute of Biology in UP Diliman to mark the 15th year since the murder of the world-renowned ethnobotanist Leonard Legaspi Co. Justice continues to elude the family after Co was gunned down with forest guard Sofronio Cortez, and guide Julius Borromeo, by soldiers of the 19th Infantry Battalion of the AFP in Kananga, Leyte. The botanist and his colleagues were conducting a survey of tree species for a forest restoration project of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) when the soldiers mercilessly fired 245 rounds at the botanical team.

“As Justice continues to elude the family of the People’s Botanist, the Constantino Foundation’s is determined to ensure Leonard Co’s life and legacy is even more known across the archipelago. Leonard defines what nationalism truly is, not merely in terms of narrow territorial nation-state formalities but as a living aspiration of a country where Filipinos thrive with the natural world, enjoying the abundance of their land and an awareness of their people’s history and the way it is intertwined with the geologic past and future of theland,” said the foundation’s managing director, Red Constantino.

Glenda Co said at the press event that the matter was now up for promulgation. Mass was organized by Linnaea and Glenda Co, daughter and wife respectively of the acclaimed botanist

The event in UP was organized by the Justice for Leonard Co Movement, Institute of Biology-UP Diliman, Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society, Inc. (PNPCSI), Green Convergence, and the Constantino Foundation. Several activities were undertaken, including a Tree Walk and the planting of native trees led by the PNPCSI, which Co founded close to two decades ago.

The event saw the release for free public download of around two thousand new and rescued images documented from Leonard’s field work, which was previously saved on a hard drive just before his horrific death. The images, rescued from a data storage unit thought to have been lost to rust and mold, were restored and organized recently by the Institute of Biology, the Constantino Foundation, and Green Convergence. Imelda Sarmiento said Leonard Co stored thousands of images taken over two years and voluminous notes in a hard drive he left with Sarmiento, three months before the People’s Botanist was killed. It was the same drive Constantino rescued through a modern lab in Las Piñas.

The digital photographs have been scientifically curated. It is “a gift to the nation and the world as Leonard Co would have wanted it,” Constantino said. “The images will form the core of the Leonard Co Collection, the main repository of the works, notes, and personal memorabilia of the beloved People’s Botanist, which will be housed in the UP Data Commons, managed by the Institute of Biology.

PNPCSI head and artist Ronald Achacoso led the tree-related activities. Before the press event, a mass was held a the Leonard Co, Bayani Ko memorial at the foot of the Dita tree–Alstoniascholaris, also known as the Scholar’s Tree—where a third of Leonard Co’s ashes was laid to rest. The annual mass was led by Glenda Co and Linnaea Co, Leonard’s wife and daughter.

Constantino said “It’s only right to angrily criticize incursions into our seas by foreign powers, but it’s sad we can’t find the same fighting energy when it comes to protecting trees in our backyard, especially native trees. Our nieghborhoods are very much part ofnour sovereignty but we have such a narrow idea of what we must protect, and this has to change if we want to honor Leonard Co’s legacy.”

The publication of a children’s book by the Institute of Biology was announced by UP Herbarium stalwart Dr Lillian Rodriguez during the press event together with the upcoming Philippine Native Trees 404: Rooted and Rising she co-edited with Jayson Mansibang, due for launching in December, with Imelda Sarmiento and Marie Marciano as the movers of the book. The first annual Leonard L. Co Lecture Series, scheduled for November 21, was announced as well, with the inaugural talk to be delivered at the College of Science Auditorium from 2:30-4:00 PM by UP Diliman Department of History Chair Dr. Ruel V. Pagunsan, titled “Branches of History: Trees, Empire, and Nation.”

Leonard Co’s contributions to science have been so immense several plants and animals have been named after him, such as the Rafflesia leonardi, Adelmeria leonardoi, Medinilla daliana,Diplycosia coi, Cagratia coi, Phillantus coi, Pandamus coi,Gomphandra coi, Eupatorium leonardi, Mycaranthes leonardoi, Nepenthes leonardi, Pinanga leonardcoi, Soricomys leonardcoi(rat), Gekko coi (Gecko).