MANILA, Philippines – Rodrigo Baylon lost his son Lenin at the height of then-president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war in 2016. Instead of a gunshot wound, Lenin’s cause of death was indicated as bronchopneumonia, like several other drug war victims who had erroneous death certificates.
On Friday, April 11 — nearly a decade after his son’s passing — Rodrigo finally received a corrected copy of Lenin’s death certificate.
“Sa wakas, nakamit din namin ang katotohanan. Ang puso ko’y masaya at malungkot nang sabay. Dapat sana’y binata, 18 na taon na siya ngayon, pero hindi na siya nabigyan ng pagkakataong mabuhay nang normal,” said Rodrigo. (At last, we finally attained the truth. My heart is sad and happy at the same time. Lenin should have been a full-grown man by now, he should have been 18, but he was deprived of his right to a normal life.)
Rodrigo said his success, with the help of lawyers from the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), is also for other drug war victims who were forced to make do with faulty documentation. The father also acknowledged that his victory is only partial, too.
“Ang mga may pananagutan sa pagkamatay ni Lenin ay kailangang managot. Ang tunay na hustisya ay kapag nanagot ang mga may sala sa mga walang kabuluhang pagpatay sa panahon ng war on drugs ni dating pangulong Duterte,” Rodrigo said. (Those who should be held accountable for Lenin’s death should be held accountable. True justice will only come if the perpetrators behind the senseless killings in former president Duterte’s drug war are held accountable.)
“It is the first time that a false death certificate tied to the drug war has been corrected, setting a precedent for other families in the same situation waiting for their loved one’s deaths to be acknowledged. While Lenin’s case marks a significant step forward, the broader issue of accountability remains unresolved for many families of victims. Without clear paths to justice, these families remain vulnerable,” said lawyer Ansheline Bacudio, IDEALS’ director for human rights.
Lenin was inside a computer shop in Camarin, Caloocan City on December 2, 2016, when motorcycle-riding assailants sprayed two alleged drug suspects with bullets. Lenin was hit by a stray bullet, and died three days before his 10th birthday.
Rodrigo and his family were told by the Three Lights Funeral Homes that they needed to pay at least P16,000 for autopsy to declare that Lenin had died from a gunshot wound.
Due to poverty, the Baylon family skipped the procedure and allowed the funeral parlor to put bronchopneumonia as Lenin’s cause of death. They also signed a waiver to signify their agreement to skip the autopsy.
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Long battle
Forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun revealed in a report in April 2022 that several drug war victims had false causes of death in their death certificates. Fortun listed at least 46 cases of victims whose death certificates indicated that they died of natural causes, but their autopsy later revealed that all died from gunshot wounds.
Lenin was among these cases. Families, like the Baylons, chose to attribute their loved ones’ deaths to natural causes to save money and avoid harassment.
Prior to Fortun’s findings, in 2019, the Baylon family filed a petition to correct his death certificate with the Caloocan City Regional Trial Court with the help of IDEALS. The lawyers and the family presented a police report indicating that the kid’s death was caused by a gunshot wound, along with a medico-legal report and witnesses.
However, the local court later denied both the petition and the family’s motion for reconsideration. The lawyers and the Baylons then brought the case to the Court of Appeals
In November 2022, the appellate court found that Rodrigo had been coerced into signing the false death certificate, therefore ordering the correction of Lenin’s death certificate. – Rappler.com