Department of Environment and Natural Resources condemns killings of forest workers

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The Philippine Inquirer reports: "Environment Secretary Ramon Paje recently expressed concern over the number of forest workers, whether volunteers or employed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), threatened, harassed and killed in the line of duty... The latest fatality was Rolando Sinday, a forest ranger in Surigao del Sur who was gunned down by masked motorcycle-riding men while on his way home last month." Read the rest of the article.

Fact-finding team suggests Filipino ethnobiologist was shot and killed by the military

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ABS CBN reports: "It was the military who shot and killed renowned plant taxonomist and ethnobiologist Leonard Co and his 2 companions, an independent fact-finding mission claimed on Wednesday. The mission, which is composed of members of the academe and cause-oriented group, presented its findings after conducting an investigation in the jungles of Kananga, Leyte, where Leonard and his team were slain on November 15. Mission head Giovanni Tapang of the scientists' group Agham said bullet trajectories at the site suggests that the gunshots all came from one direction. Evidence also suggests that Co and his group were the main targets of the gunmen, he added."

Update (2011-04-25): A website campaigning for justice for Leonard Co has been up and running for some time now. Please visit www.justiceforleonardco.org and learn more about what has been happening on this front.