by Ivien Prinze Fetalino | Reprimo
The prevailing death investigation system in the country is said to be the medico-legal death investigation (MLDI) system which combines medical and legal expertise to answer salient questions of a crime scene, including the cause and manner of death, typically that of unnatural or suspicious death. According to the MLDI module developed by Global Health Advocacy Incubator and CDC Foundation, MLDI is "a process whereby a coroner, medical examiner, or forensic pathologist working with the police, seeks to understand how and why a person died." Its purpose is to provide medical findings and analysis that may be submitted as evidence in court.
Surprisingly, we have no particular Law for MLDI. The Sanitation Code served as the only relevant part of our death investigation system discussing the proper disposal of bodies, exhumation of remains, etc. until 2019 when the House of Representatives approved the House Bill 9072 or the “Mandatory Autopsy Law” which states:
This Act requires mandatory full autopsy and prohibits the unauthorized disposition of human remains arising from deaths under investigation or mysterious and suspicious circumstances.
Moreover, the personnels mandated to perform the autopsy and dissection of remains are: government health officers; medical officers of law enforcement agencies; and members of the medical staff of accredited hospitals.
Despite this Act, medico-legal services remain inaccessible to most citizens because of few facilities and experts in the field. These services are bound to regional offices and there is no systematic transportation scheme for death investigators to go to remote areas or for the body to be properly brought back for examination. Another limitation is that we lack forensic pathologists - the medical experts best suited for death investigations.
According to the MLDI module, the forensic pathologist "acts as the case coordinator for the medical and forensic scientific assessment of a given death, making sure that the appropriate procedures and evidence collection techniques are applied to the body." Forensic pathologists are specially trained to conduct forensic autopsy, to obtain medical evidence in the crime scene, and to form accurate medical findings.
Unfortunately, there are only two forensic pathologists in the country, Dr. Cecilia Lim and Dr. Raquel Fortun. The road to becoming a forensic pathologist is quite long and difficult, and often the expenses are high. One must earn a bachelor's degree, then a medical degree, and extensive years of education and training in anatomic, clinical and/or forensic pathology followed by a one-year residency in forensic pathology. There are a few universities in the Philippines that offer the undergraduate degree program BS Forensic Science such as De La Salle University (DLSU) and Lyceum of the Philippines (LPU). However the post-graduate medical training in forensic pathology is only available abroad. Most of our Filipino forensic pathologists are actually practicing their profession in other countries. Without a Law that requires forensic pathologists in our death investigation system, they have no employment opportunities here.
One of the most revolutionary discoveries in forensic science is DNA fingerprinting or DNA profiling. It is a laboratory technique for human identification based on the variation in nucleotide sequences of specific regions of the DNA that vary among individuals. Currently, there are only three government institutions that conduct DNA tests for criminal investigations: the Philippine National Police (PNP), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the University of the Philippines through the DNA Analysis Laboratory (UP-DAL). Rodriguez et al. (2021) also pointed out the high cost of DNA testing due to insufficient government support and the absence of a national system for the routine collection and processing of samples and analysis of evidence. This means we are still far behind the full utilization of forensic DNA technology in the country.
The undervalued field of forensic science in the Philippines is taking a toll on our justice system. Over the years, we have heard of controversial criminal cases wherein medico-legal reports contain incomplete information, evidences were mishandled or neglectfully destroyed, and conclusions were prematurely formed based on a few evidence. One example is the case of Christine Dacera who was found unconscious at a hotel bathtub during New Year's day. The police hastily declared that it was a rape-slay case despite insufficient evidence. It was also revealed that Christine's body was embalmed prior to medico-legal examination thus contaminating any viable sample for DNA analysis, toxicology tests, and histopathology examination. After the second autopsy by the NBI, it was concluded that Christine died from aortic aneurysm which was considered to be a medical condition not a result of rape or drug intoxication. Christine's case is just one of the few major headlines that exposed the broken system of the Philippine death investigation while many deaths, unnoticed by the public, were possibly left unsolved.
In our own judicial system, testimonial evidence is valued more than other types of evidence; this is sometimes unreliable due to the subjective nature of testimonials and the limitations of the human memory especially with the passage of time. Based on a study by Strange and Takarangi (2015), traumatic events could leave distorted memories in which mental imagery has an important role to play. Hence, forensic science provides an objective means to discern the truth when testimonial evidence is questionable. Autopsy results and DNA profiles are valuable evidence that should complement testimonial evidence, and by itself, should be considered strong evidence in court.
Forensic science, with its multi-disciplinary approach involving forensic laboratory disciplines, forensic pathology, forensic entomology, and recently emerging digital forensics, is a crucial element of the criminal justice system. It could fill gaps in crime investigations and could shed light to unresolved crimes. By enforcing science-based policies and standardized protocols in crime scene investigations equipped with transparency and accountability of the authorities and institutions involved, we can mend the faulty system of criminal investigation in the Philippines and defend truth and justice for every Filipino.
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