Experts, netizens, cast doubt on ‘Fortun Report’
NETIZENS and experts alike casted doubt on the credibility of the report on the second ‘independent’ autopsy on the body of Crestituto Villamor Palaña, also known as ‘Jun Villamor,’ the convict at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP), who suddenly died last October 18, 2022, under still mysterious circumstances.
Despite being incarcerated at the NBP for murder and attempted murder, Palaña/Villamor, 42, turned out to be the ‘go-between’ in the murder last October 3, 2022, of radio blocktimer, Pecival Mabasa, aka, ‘Percy Lapid, near his home in Las Piñas City by motorcycle-riding gunmen.
Mabasa’s death drew a hail of condemnation from here and abroad.
Villamor’s death coincided just hours after Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary, Benhur Abalos, presented to the media Joel Escorial, the self-confessed gunman of Lapid, who then pointed to someone locked inside the “Bilibid” as giving the order to kill Lapid. The ‘someone’ turned out to be Villamor.
Escorial supposedly surrendered to the police a day earlier, October 17, 2022, “for fear of his life” and those of his family and said he communicated with Villamor via cellphone.
Aside from Villamor, Escorial also named brothers ‘Edmond’ and ‘Israel Dimaculangan,’ one alias ‘Orlando/Orly’ and another inmate at the Bicutan jail who later turned out to be one ‘Christopher Bacoto/Jerry Sandoval,’ as part of their group who took part in the hit on Lapid in exchange for P550,000.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), in its “consolidated initial report” on the first autopsy done last October 20, 2022, disclosed that Villamor has “no apparent sign of external injury” removing the possibility of foul play.
Instead, the report showed that Villamor had a “hemorrhagic area over the left ventricle” of his heart with the mitral valve “sclerotic, which could indicate previous illnesses or valvular infection.”
In layman’s term, the autopsy indicate Villamor died from a heart attack, corroborating the report of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) that he died of “natural causes,” some 35 minutes after he was brought unconscious at the NBP Hospital past 2:00pm of October 18, 2022.
But unsatisfied with the first autopsy amidst rumor that Villamor was purposely killed, Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary Jesus Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla, granted the request of the Mabasa family for another, independent, autopsy, choosing Dr. Raquel Fortun for the job.
Fortun has the distinction of being the country’s first female forensic pathologist and is a professor at the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines.
Conclusion of ‘Fortun Report’ not backed by evidence?
Last October 29, 2022, three days after concluding her second autopsy on October 26, 2022, Fortun held a press conference with Secretary Remulla, where she bared that based on “available information regarding the circumstances surrounding the death, the manner is homicide.”
The report elaborated that Villamor had earlier expressed fear for his life “and that he died from suffocation by means of a plastic bag over his head.”
In the spirit of transparency, Secretary Remulla approved the release of Fortun’s report to the public via the DOJ’s ‘Twitter’ account also on October 29, the day of the press conference.
The release of the 6-page report has drawn questions from other pathologists and netizens alike after a careful reading of Fortun’s report showed this was not confirmed by evidence arising from her actual autopsy.
Dr. Erwin Erfe, himself a leading and respected forensic pathologist at the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), in a social media post last October 31, 2022, alluding to Fortun’s report, said:
“I would trust the first (NBI autopsy).
“A cause and manner of death opinion based on hearsay information muddles an investigation and may mislead investigators.”
In another social media post two days later, Erfe added:
“I read through the report expecting a good forensic story. I ended up with a fiction written by a bad writer,” that thus far has drawn over 1,200 reactions and shared 105 times.
Majority of the netizens who reacted also made fun and questioned the report as Fortun’s conclusion, they said, was based on “hearsay” for not tallying with her findings.
Experts noted that the report would have been more convincing if Fortun found some of the tell-tale signs that Villamor died from suffocation or asphyxia.
Among others, killing by asphyxia, in Villamor’s case the placing of the plastic bag over his head to suffocate him to death, would result to his lips and skin turning bluish.
There would have also been ‘splotches’ (petechial hemorrhages) in his eyes and lungs and foam in his air passageways.
Not one sign or evidence of asphyxiation, they noted, was mentioned in Fortun’s report.
A well-placed source at the DOJ, however, said they tend to believe Fortun’s report as she was given “access” to “latent information” that was not yet available when the NBI conducted its autopsy.
Last October 29, Secretary Remulla also announced that 7 individuals have been placed under custody whom, he said, can “prove” that Villamor was killed and did not die from a heart failure.
Drug use still prevalent at ‘Munti’
The other aspect of Fortun’s report that alarmed Remulla, however, was the presence of “methamphetamine” (shabu) in Villamor’s urine, based on the result of Fortun toxicology report and the presence of “parasites” (schistosomiasis) in his liver, indicating poor living condition inside the NBP and contaminated drinking water.
The DOJ said he has tasked former Armed Forces chief of staff and now BuCor officer-in-charge, Gen. Gregorio Catapang, to thoroughly investigate the continuing proliferation of illegal drugs at the country’s main penitentiary.
Catapang replaced BuCor director general Gerald Bantag last October 21, 2022, who was ordered relieved by President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., to pave the way for a more thorough investigation of Villamor’s death.
Bantag is now among the suspects (person of interest) over the latter’s demise (see also Pinoy Exposé, October 24, 2022).
