NUPL backs call to probe doctors who 'fake' death certificates of EJK victims

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers on Sunday strongly backed calls to investigate doctors accused of falsifying death certificates of alleged drug suspects who died in police operations during the Duterte administration’s brutal drug war in a supposed attempt to cover up “state-backed” extrajudicial killings.

The call came as the Philippine Truth Commission nudges the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to finally review reports of physicians’ deliberate misclassification of drug war deaths ahead of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s trial for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court on 30 November.

Forensic pathologist and commission member, Dr. Raquel Fortun, recently said that at least 13 cases of deaths in Caloocan and Quezon City were incorrectly listed as “natural causes” as the cause of death, despite clear evidence of gunshot wounds in their body.

Atty. Ephraim Cortez, the NUPL president, commended the commission for helping bring to light the alleged anomaly in the death certificates, saying this has been a long-standing concern of the families of EJK victims.

“We don’t know why it had to be done that way. Obviously, the purpose is to shield the police officers from prosecution,” Cortez said in Filipino in a radio interview.

“There are police reports stating that these individuals were killed during legitimate police operations, yet their death certificates indicate ‘natural causes’,” he added.

Natural causes include pneumonia, heart attack, and stroke, among others, although examination of the bodies revealed they sustained gunshot wounds mostly in the head.

Five doctors are allegedly involved in the said case, one of whom has already died.

The families of EJK victims were “enraged” by the supposed complicity of doctors, Cortez said, especially since most of them could not afford an autopsy report.

He argued that the lack of a medico-legal report proving murder left families of the victims with little to no chance to win a case against police in court.

“Without the autopsy report, the conclusion will just be natural causes. How can you prove murder or homicide if those are the findings? That is why the families of the victims are angry because it prevents them from obtaining justice for their loved ones,” Cortez remarked.

While the families may have the death certificate amended to reflect the legitimate cause of death, Cortez pointed out that it would be a tedious process because it has to go through the lengthy court process.

He cited a 2022 Court of Appeals decision ordering the death certificate of a nine-year-old Lenin Baylon, who died by a gunshot wound during a police operation in December 2016, to be corrected.

The court later found that Baylon’s family was coerced into signing a waiver falsifying his death certificate by declaring bronchopneumonia as his cause of death because they could not afford an autopsy.

Cortez lamented that the scheme is not confined to physicians, but also to funeral parlors.

Nonetheless, he emphasized the need for the PRC to launch a sweeping probe into the doctors allegedly involved in the anomaly and impose administrative sanctions.

“Otherwise, they would be condoning an anomaly that a professional should not be committing. In fact, it is a violation of their oath to report the true cause of death, and their work is vital to our legal justice system,” Cortez concluded.