After nearly a decade of waiting, the family of nine-year-old Lenin Baylon—one of the youngest casualties in the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign—has finally received a corrected copy of his death certificate.
Lenin died on December 2, 2016, during a shootout between unidentified gunmen and alleged drug suspects in Caloocan City. His death came just six months after the launch of then-President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
“Gusto niyang buhay, makatapos at makapagturo sa mga batang kapus-palad. Lagi niyang sinasabi tutulong siya kahit wala na nanay niya, siya mag-aalaga sa akin,” said his father, Rodrigo Baylon.
Rodrigo recalled his son’s death after his family finally obtained his right death certificate almost 10 years after his death.
“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. Kung pwede ko lang buhayin at kausapin si Lenin, para masabi sa kanyang unti-unti na nating nakakamit ang hustisya,” he said.
Unable to pay the P16,000 autopsy fee, Baylon’s family was forced to sign a waiver agreeing to list bronchopneumonia – instead of gunshot wound — as the victim’s cause of death.
In 2019, the Baylon family started receiving legal assistance from the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), allowing them to pursue the truth behind his death.
In 2022, Court of Appeals (CA) ruled Lenin’s father, Rodrigo Baylon had been coerced into signing the false death certificate and ordered the correction. Two years after the ruling, the Baylon family finally received the corrected document.
At the time of Lenin’s death, then-Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and now Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa was the chief architect of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, known as “Oplan Tokhang”.
When asked about the death of 3-year-old Myca Ulpina during a drug war operation, Dela Rosa merely remarked “shit happens”.
TATAK MNL 
Leave a comment