BLOOD FORESTS
in murder, through grief, for justice — in Asia’s deadliest country for environmental defenders.
land and environmental defenders were killed in the Philippines from 2012 to 2021,
accounting to almost half of the injustices in the world along with Brazil and Colombia.
how many more flowers?
how many more years?
how many more in this thirst for justice?
November 15, 2010
Dr. Leonard Co (botanist), Sofronio Cortez (forest guard), and Julius Borromeo (forest guide) were murdered by the army on the roots of a Tanguile tree as they were conducting botanical research for the conservation of the rainforests in Leyte, Philippines.
Linnaea Co, the bereaved and sole daughter of Dr. Leonard Co, continues to process her grief since the muder of her father
when she was just 8-years old.
She homes a tree nursery in honour of her father’s botanical legacy, planting wildlings across reforestation sites where her father used to bring her.
She is named after Linnaea borealis, a twinflower.
Teresita Borromeo, 56, the widow of slain forest guide Julius Borromeo, revisits the roots of where her husband was murdered in Kananga, Leyte.
She works as a farmer to provide for her five bereaved children as a single mother in a decade’s worth in search for justice.
parang maliliit na kamay raw ang liyab ng kandila
nakakamit ba nito ang hustisya?
sa ugat ng punong Tanguile, dugo’y lumuha
tatlong buhay walang pahintulat napinsala
liwanag sa liliw ng dahon at diwa.
