The Truth Commission has urged the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) to investigate several doctors over questionable death certificates of at least 13 alleged victims of former president Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug campaign.
In a press release on Friday, October 30, the commission said the death certificates listed pneumonia, heart attack, sepsis, and other illnesses as causes of death, despite forensic findings showing gunshot wounds in all 13 cases.
The commission reviewed cases from Caloocan and Quezon City, involving 11 men who died in 2016 and two others in 2018. Six death certificates cited pneumonia, while four indicated heart attack as the cause of death.
Forensic pathologist and commission member Dr. Raquel Fortun, who examined the remains of more than 150 alleged drug war victims, found gunshot wounds in all 13 cases, including injuries to the head and torso.
“Honoring the dead this All Souls’ Day means more than remembering them. It means setting their records straight and holding those responsible to account,” Truth Commission Chairman Judge Raul Pangalangan said.
The commission identified five doctors who signed the questioned certificates and called on the PRC and PMA to determine what medical evidence supported their diagnoses and why the gunshot wounds were not reflected.
However, it stressed that identifying the physicians was a call for investigation and not a declaration of guilt, noting that some doctors may have been forced to falsify information during the drug war.
The commission also urged the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), local civil registrars, and health officials to help families correct the death certificates using complete forensic evidence.
It further called for the preservation of original medical records, autopsy reports, and death certificates, as well as an investigation into other possible cases of miscertified drug war deaths.
“Families deserve accurate death certificates, and the public deserves an honest account of how these men and women died,” Pangalangan added.
The Truth Commission, established in May 2026 by civil society and church groups, seeks to uncover the truth behind the killings during Duterte's anti-drug campaign. The former president is currently detained at the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he faces charges of crimes against humanity in connection with the killings.
