EDITORIAL - Caught in the crossfire?

The administration headed by the only son of two democracy icons is supposed to be a champion of human rights. Expectations are high that President Aquino will make a significant dent in stopping unexplained killings and disappearances and solving the many such cases wherein justice continues to elude the victims.

Much of the success of any effort to uphold human rights depends on the cooperation of the military. Along this line the President should make sure that a thorough, credible investigation is conducted on the killing of prominent botanist Leonardo Co last Monday in a forest in Leyte.

Co was reportedly collecting seedlings of endangered trees, accompanied by local guide Julius Borromeo and forest guard Sofronio Cortez of the Energy Development Corp., which employed Co as a consultant, when the three were caught in a firefight between soldiers and suspected communist rebels. A company spokesman said Co, a botanist at the University of the Philippines, coordinated his movements in the forest with the local military command.

Since the collapse of the Marcos dictatorship, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has struggled to win back hearts and minds in a country that has come to view the soldier with distrust. Some progress has been made in this effort, with systematic torture seen to have ended with the restoration of democracy in 1986. But over the past two decades, killings and disappearances mostly of militant activists have continued, with many of the cases attributed to government forces. In Co’s case, some quarters have voiced suspicion that he or his companions were deliberately targeted by AFP troops and mistaken for members or sympathizers of the New People’s Army.

If Co and his companions were truly caught in the crossfire, in a legitimate counterinsurgency operation, this must be clearly established by the Aquino government in a credible probe. If the investigation shows otherwise, the victims must get justice and the guilty must be punished. Counterinsurgency can be won only with the people’s trust in the integrity of their troops.