De Lima denounces alleged "fake" death certificates of drug war victims

Detained Senator Leila de Lima on Wednesday denounced the alleged falsified death certificates of the victims of the drug war under President Rodrigo Duterte's administration.

In a statement, the reelectionist senator said there is a need to identify the medical professionals who were allegedly involved in the falsification of death certificates and encourage them to become state witnesses to point out the names of the "mastermind behind the inhumane act."

“The findings of Dr. Raquel Fortun from the autopsies she conducted on the 46 exhumed bodies of victims of Duterte’s war on drugs only confirm what we have known all along, that the victims were shot and killed, summarily,” the lawmaker said.

“What we did not know, and only found out from the autopsies, is that even their causes of death were faked in death certificates. Instead of gunshot wounds, the cause of death written on the death certificates was 'natural causes' like heart attack, pneumonia, stroke, etc,” she added.

Forensic expert Raquel Fortun, who has been examining exhumed remains of drug war victims since July 2021, presented her findings after investigating 46 individuals who were killed in the first year of Duterte's crackdown.

In one case, a death certificate was missing, while for many others, certificates were incomplete, Fortun said in a media briefing.

Seven death certificates showed the victims died of natural cases like sepsis, pneumonia, and hypertension, she said.

"You have doctors staking their reputations, names, licenses falsifying death certificates," Fortun said. "There's a law against this."

Fortun's analysis of the exhumed remains showed at least 32 of the 46 died of gunshot wounds. At least 24 of them were shot in the head.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday pledged to launch an investigation on the matter.

De Lima asserted that the reason must be "very compelling" for these doctors to falsify the death certificates.

She said the physicians might have faced force and intimidation, "unless they were willing accomplices in the conspiracy from the very start."

“Regardless of the reason, they are liable for their criminal conduct,” she said.

“They should then be encouraged to turn state witness and reveal the names of the officials who ordered them to falsify death certificates," she added.

The lawmaker then urged the Department of Justice to ensure the security of the doctors allegedly involved in the falsification of death certificates as Fortun's recent findings have already placed their lives in danger.

“As in any cleansing operation of a conspiracy, the first to go are those found in the lowest rung of the conspiracy, the dispensable pawns. In so far as the masterminds are concerned, those who falsified the victims’ death certificates certainly belong to this group of dispensable individuals,” she said.

“Because of this, efforts must be made by the DOJ immediately to ensure their security, if it is at all sincere in investigating and prosecuting the EJKs committed in Duterte’s drug war,” she added.

Earlier in the day, the Philippine National Police said it will validate the alleged falsification of some death certificates issued to the victims of the government's drug war.—AOL, GMA News