Help fix ‘bogus’ death certificates of other EJK victims, gov’t urged
NO JUSTICE IN DEATH The body of a drug war victimis exhumed in September after a five-year lease on the apartment tomb at Manila North Cemetery where his remains were placed expired. —RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines — A man’s successful yearslong quest to have his 9-year-old son’s death certificate corrected to accurately reflect that he died by gunshot instead of pneumonia has emboldened a legal aid group in its own effort to fix the falsified records of many other victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs).
The group Ideals urged the government to address the “bogus” causes of death among EJK victims, hoping to build on the momentum of the Court of Appeals (CA) decision granting Rodrigo Baylon’s petition to correct the death certificate of his son Lenin, who died in a drug-related shooting.
The young boy was killed by stray bullets on Dec. 2, 2016, in Caloocan City during a shooting that also killed two women, according to a police report.
But Lenin’s death certificate indicated that he had died from bronchopneumonia.
‘Lazy and negligent’ cops
During a press conference, priest Flavie Villanueva said Ideals had uncovered many similar cases of erroneous death certificates covering up the real causes of death of some drug war victims since last year.
“We continue to get bogus death certificates and because the families have fake or unclear records, and because police themselves are lazy and negligent in writing up the right death certificates, these families do not get the support they need,” he said.
Villanueva, head of the Church-led Paghilom program, which offers psychosocial support to families and survivors of EJK victims, called on different branches of government, including the Commission on Human Rights, to “help us rectify these records.”
A Reuters investigation has found that Lenin was not the only victim whose death certificate did not accurately reflect the violent manner in which police and family members said they died. Reuters documented at least 14 other cases of death certificates that said the deceased had succumbed to natural causes, such as pneumonia or hypertension instead of saying they were shot.
Such erroneous death records have obscured the true toll of the war on drugs, which has claimed the lives of thousands of drug suspects.
Baylon’s request to have his son’s death certificate corrected was rejected by a lower court in 2019, forcing him to file an appeal. In November, the CA sided with him and ordered the local civil registry to change the cause of death to “gunshot wound.”
“This is a small victory,” Baylon told a media briefing on Monday as he recalled his son’s killing, which happened just a few months after then newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte unleashed his bloody “war on drugs.”
Baylon said his family had been forced to sign a waiver agreeing to alter the cause of his son’s death or face exorbitant fees for the autopsy. “His death certificate was an outright lie, and they took advantage of our family’s fears,” he said.
Villanueva said his group hoped to replicate Baylon’s success.
Last year, his group started exhuming and performing a second autopsy on victims’ bodies after the five-year lease on their apartment tombs had lapsed.
Of the 72 bodies that were exhumed, at least five who died in drug operations were wrongly indicated to have died of heart attack, sepsis or other illnesses in their death certificates, the priest said.
Baylon’s case has been added to the documents submitted to the International Criminal Court now investigating allegations of crimes against humanity in the conduct of Duterte’s drug war.
Revictimization
Mario Maderazo, the Baylons’ legal counsel, said the act of falsifying official records was a “revictimization” of those killed under the drug war.
“Not only are you a victim of murder, you are again victimized as state agents attempt to change your life story by covering up what really happened as was the case of Lenin,” he said. Echoing his sentiment, Ideals human rights program manager Ansheline Bacudio urged the Marcos administration to push for “an effective and independent investigation of all alleged extrajudicial killings.”
