Leonardo Co, Botanist and Native Plant Conservationist in the Philippines, Portrait 24

Portrait using marker and flowers (unfinished) by Liz Peterson
Original Photograph: Oda S. Beltran

Leonardo Co was an esteemed botanist with a wide-ranging knowledge of the native plants of the Philippines. He was also passionate about their preservation and in 2007 founded the Philippine Native Plant Conservation Society. Co was heavily involved in a research project to track biodiversity in Palanan, Isabela in partnership with the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University and Smithsonian Tropical Research Center and was instrumental in categorizing the medicinal plants of the islands. He was much beloved as a mentor who freely shared his knowledge with a great deal of enthusiasm. A statement by the group after his death said Co "would expound on the complex interrelationships between one living thing to another; He possessed firsthand knowledge that can never be found in any literature." Co was so respected for his expertise that one of the most extraordinary plants endemic to the Philipphines was named after him, the Rafflesia leonardi.

On November 15, 2010, while conducting field research in Leyte, Co was shot and killed by the Philippine army, along with forest guard Sofronio Cortez and guide Julius Borromeo. The army dubbed the event an accident and said that Co and his group were caught in a crossfire between the army and rebel forces inhabiting the area. This interpretation of events has been disputed by the two surviving witnesses who said the Philippine soldiers were the only ones to fire shots. 

photo of Leonardo Co with his namesake plant, Rafflesia leonardi

Sources:

http://www.cecphils.org/node/179

http://pinoyweekly.org/new/2010/11/remembering-leonard-co/

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/56126/troops-to-be-charged-with-homicide-for-deaths-of-botanist-leonard-co-2-others

https://sites.google.com/a/agham.org/justice-for-leonard-co/