Remulla sees conviction in cases similar to Lenin Baylon's

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Tuesday said cases similar to the Lenin Baylon case that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is looking into may lead to convictions of doctors and commanders.

Remulla told GMA News Online that he and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have been studying nine cases similar to Baylon's in where the cause of death entry in the death certificate was changed into something else.

Asked if the similar cases he is studying will help lead to more convictions, Remulla said, “Yes, from doctors to Commanders.”
He said there are no possible suspects yet for these cases.

GMA News Online also asked Remulla if he was referring to commanders from the Philippine National Police, but has yet to elaborate as of posting.

The Court of Appeals recently granted the petition of the father of nine-year-old Lenin Baylon to correct his son’s cause of death entry in his death certificate.

Baylon was hit by a stray bullet in Caloocan City on December 2, 2016 — during the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs — in a shooting incident that also killed two women.

Shabu was reportedly found on one of the dead women.

Baylon’s father Rodrigo said he was compelled to sign a waiver agreeing to alter his son’s cause of death for his body to be released. Otherwise, they would have had to pay for the autopsy, which he said they could not afford to pay.

However, based on the CA decision promulgated on November 15, 2022, there is no need for expert opinion evidence to change Lenin’s cause of death to a gunshot wound due to the “overwhelming facts and circumstances that transpired in the case.”

“Matter of factly, We find that the appellant was able to prove with a preponderance of the evidence that indeed, Lenin died due to a gunshot wound (on his right chest near his armpit) even in the absence of a post-mortem examination,” the decision read, signed by Associate Justice Roberto Quiroz.

Asked if this CA decision on Lenin’s case will have any impact on the drug war review, Remulla said: “I want to see that.”

The Justice secretary earlier said he will share all drug war findings and files with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

In August, Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres said of the 52 drug war cases published by the agency, six have been dismissed while seven are undergoing case build-up.

The DOJ has also reviewed 352 cases where individuals have been killed during the police's anti-drug operations since 2016.

Remulla had also said reforms are underway regarding the killings to strengthen the internal affairs arm of the national police which will be given independence to “answer many questions about the impunity being talked about.”

He made the statement when some member-nations of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) said that the Philippines should take action to protect and promote human rights, including addressing killings of the war on drugs and ensuring access to justice for victims. —KBK, GMA Integrated News