After being told they would have to pay more and could face danger and discrimination, families of Philippine drug war victims agreed to fake the death certificates of their kin. Their instigators? Funeral parlors. Investigative report by ramboreports:
MANILA, Philippines – After being told that they would have to pay more and could face danger and discrimination, families of Philippine drug war victims agreed to fake the death certificates of their kin.
In Part 2 of its investigation, Rappler discovered how death certificates were systematically forged by medical doctors. The families lost the chance of filing criminal complaints against the killers of their relatives when they attributed their deaths to natural causes and signed the waiver at the funeral parlor saying they would not file any complaints.
Most of the families were also too scared to speak with the police, suspecting that they were behind the killings. Rappler went and spoke with Jenne staffers, a couple who ran the parlor, but they declined to give comment.REPRESENTATIVE. Raffy Faeldonia’s signature on the contract with the family of case number 29. Rappler sourced photo
“If you ask me, I have no knowledge because my number one policy is that I never let a corpse be buried without an autopsy,” Faeldonia told Rappler in Filipino during a phone interview.“I only signed the contract, but I couldn’t recognize who actually transacted because that issue happened a long time ago,” Faeldonia said.
A certain Amadea Cruz, supposedly the attending physician, signed the certificates of cases 6 and 29, while a certain Ramil Razon signed for case 21. The Department of Health allows this under “verbal autopsy.” The department describes it in its Medical Certification of Death handbook for physicians. As of April 2022, Razon was said to be assigned to Marinduque. Rappler sought Razon’s comment through text messages and calls, but he has not yet replied as of posting.LAST CHECK. Doctor Maybelle Placencia-Sison signed all three cases Rappler investigated. Rappler sourced photo
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