From the bones of victims, a doctor unearths the Philippine drug war’s true toll

ASIA PACIFIC

From the bones of victims, a doctor unearths the Philippine drug war’s true toll

Raquel Fortun, a forensic pathologist, inspects the skeletal remains of a drug war victim at a classroom in Manila on May 17. Fortun, one of only two forensic pathologists in the Philippines, is using her skills to show how other doctors falsely claimed some victims of the country’s drug war had died natural deaths. | EZRA ACAYAN / THE NEW YORK TIMES

By Sui-Lee Wee
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Jun 4, 2022

QUEZON CITY, Philippines – Standing in a university classroom surrounded by six skeletons lying on wooden tables, Dr. Raquel Fortun held up the broken skull of a man who was slain during President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.

She poked a finger through a hole in it.

“This looks like an entry,” said Fortun, who is one of only two forensic pathologists in the Philippines. “So an apparent gunshot wound to the head for this one.”