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INGLL
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SOCIAL SCIENCE DILIMAN (June 2011) 7:1, 117-119.
ISSN 1655-1524 Print / ISSN 2012-0796 Online
REMEMBERING . . . REMEMBERING . . . REMEMBERING . . . REMEMBERING . . . REMEMBERING . . .
A ! A ! A ! A ! A !A1O!AL A1O!AL A1O!AL A1O!AL A1O!AL 1 11 11REASLRE REASLRE REASLRE REASLRE REASLRE: : : : : L LL LLEO!ARD EO!ARD EO!ARD EO!ARD EO!ARD L. C L. C L. C L. C L. CO OO OO (r,,,-aoro) (r,,,-aoro) (r,,,-aoro) (r,,,-aoro) (r,,,-aoro)
Leonard Co during the UP Diliman Institute
of Biology's Iield Biology course in Palaui
Island, Cagayan in the summer of 2006
(photo from Perry Ong).
Perry S. Ong and Nina Ingle
Leonard L. Co, unparalleled plant scholar and a scientist or the people,
died last Noember 15, 2010 in Leyte rom gunshot wounds obtained during
an alleged crossire between the Philippine Army 19
th
Inantry Battalion and
the New People`s Army. Co had pioneered the writing o manuals on Philippine
medicinal plants or community-based health care in the 190s and worked as
a pharmacologist o Chinese medicinal plants in the 1980s. At the time o his
death, Co was doing research on natie orest species or reorestation. le was
also assembling a digital herbarium and writing an update o 1be vvveratiov of
Pbitippive torerivg Ptavt. written by Llmer Merrill at the turn o the 20
th
century.
Leonard was born in 1953 to a Chinese ather and Ilocano mother, and
lied in Caloocan where the amily had a popular Chinese restaurant. le went
to the Philippine Chinese ligh School, where, under the pen name Siling
Labuyo`, Leonard wrote a column called Mga 1.i.vi. .a Kavtiva` in the high
school newspaper about problems in society and in school. Leonard was luent
LLONARD L. CO ,1953-2010,
118
in 1agalog ,lilipino,, Ilocano, lokkien, Mandarin, and Lnglish, but he was
most comortable speaking in lilipino.
le went to UP Diliman or college, enrolling irst in Chemistry but then
shiting to Botany, his true loe. lis college career was interrupted by the turmoil
during martial law when Leonard became a political detainee. Among the
eidence presented against Leonard were Communist` books in Chinese script
that were actually books on Chinese medicinal plants. During this period, he
edited the Mavvat ov ove Pbitippive Meaicivat Ptavt., which came out in
mimeographed orm in 19 in the name o the UP Botanical Society.
Ater release rom detention he worked as a research assistant at the UP
National Science Research Institute. \ith ellow botanists he went on ieldwork
in the Cordillera looking or plants used in Chinese medicine. Leonard also
interiewed local elders and traditional healers to learn rom them about
medicinal plants. le enrolled in UP Baguio while he continued to do research.
In 1989, an expanded ersion o the 19 manual, with nearly 500 pages, was
published as Covvov Meaicivat Ptavt. iv tbe Coraittera Regiov: . 1raivor`. Mavvat for
Covvvvit,a.ea eattb Prograv., by Community lealth Lducation, Serices
and 1raining in the Cordillera Region ,ClLS1CORL,. Leonard worked or
ClLS1CORL in training local health workers in the use o medicinal plants
and acupuncture. Leonard became the resident Chinese pharmacologist at the
Acupuncture 1herapeutic and Research Center in Manila where he met Glenda
llores, whom he married in 1990. 1hey hae a daughter, Linnea Marie.
lighly regarded in the international community, Co only got his Bachelor
o Science Degree in Botany rom the UP Diliman in the summer o 2008
,ater 36 years, although he sered as the ae facto curator o the UP lerbarium
and mentored countless students. Palanan in the Sierra Madre was where he did
the most botanizing. lis last publication in 2006, wherein he was the senior
author, was the book ore.t 1ree. of Patavav, Pbitippive.: . tva, iv Popvtatiov
cotog,. 1his was as part o the book series o the Center or 1ropical lorest
Science o the Smithsonian 1ropical Research Institution. Co considered this
book to be a celebration o the spirit o partnership and collaboration, o
mentoring, o passion or excellence and abhorrence o mediocrity, and most
importantly o dreaming, innoating and ighting tooth and nail or the cause
o biodiersity conseration`

. le was ery proud o this achieement as it

was the irst o its kind in the Philippines, and it was supported by the academe,
goernment, non-goernment organization conseration groups and the priate
sector.

Inscribed in his dedication to Perry Ong.

P. ONG , N. INGLL
119
Leonard`s second home was the UP lerbarium. le oten stayed oernight,
spending countless hours sorting and identiying specimens. le brought together
a dierse group o people with a shared loe or natie plants into the Philippine
Natie Plant Conseration Society which was ormally organized in 2008. 1wo
plants hae been named ater him: the orchid M,caravtbe. teovaraoi ,described in
2010 by Ulysses lerreras and \ally Suarez,, and Raffte.ia teovarai, a parasitic
plant with huge lowers ,described in his honor by Julie Barcelona and Pieter
Pelser in 2008,.
It is ironic that he was gunned down while doing the work that he loed,
identiying tree species in the middle o a remnant orest that he was trying to
restore. le was in Kananga, Leyte as a biodiersity expert or the Lnergy
Deelopment Corporation ,LDC, or its tree legacy program, BINlI, looking
or mother trees. 1wo other team members, Soronio Cortez, a orest guard
rom the LDC, and Julius Borromeo rom the 1ongonan larmers Association,
were also killed. No less than an impartial, independent and credible inestigation
is needed to erret out the truth behind their deaths.
References
Barcelona, J. l., Pelser, P.B., Cabutaje, L., & Bartolome, N.A. ,2008,. Another New
Species o Ralesia ,Ralesiaceae, rom Luzon, Philippines: R. Leonardi. tvvea -
ioairer.it,, rotvtiov, ava tbe iogeograpb, of Ptavt., :, 1 ,May 2008,, 223-228.
Co, L. ,1989,. Covvov Meaicivat Ptavt. iv tbe Coraittera Regiov: . 1raivor`. Mavvat for
Covvvvit,a.ea eattb Prograv.. Baguio City: Community lealth Lducation,
Serices and 1raining in the Cordillera Region
Co, L. ,2006,. ore.t 1ree. of Patavav, Pbitippive.: . tva, iv Popvtatiov cotog,. Center or
Integratie and Deelopment Studies, Uniersity o the Philippines System.
lerreras, U. & \. Suarez. ,2010,. Mycaranthes leonardoi. .v.tratiav Orcbia Rerier 4 |Dec
2009-Jan 2010[, 6, pp.36-38.
Merrill, L. ,1925,. 1be vvveratiov of Pbitippive torerivg Ptavt.. Manila: Bureau o
Printing. Retrieed July 5, 2011 rom http:,,www.archie.org,stream,
enumerationophi01merr4page,n3,mode,2up.
UP Botanical Society. ,19,. Manual on Some Philippine Medicinal Plants. Mimeographed
MS.
Perry S. Ong is Director o the Institute o Biology, Uniersity o the Philippines Diliman.
Nina Ingle is President o the \ildlie Conseration Society o the Philippines.
Lmail: ongperryyahoo.com
Lmail: ninaingleastmail.m