Forensic exams of dead bodies at landfill start
By Annabelle L. Ricalde
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
CAGAYAN DE ORO – A National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) forensic team from Manila conducted examinations on dead bodies of flash flood victims at a landfill here.
NBI medico legal officer Dr. Wilfredo Tierra, who was surprised of the piles of dead bodies, said it is the first time they work in a dumpsite.
“Mas mabaho pa nga ang basura kay sa mga patay pero ano pang magagawa namin, nakabilad na sa araw ang mga patay ng aming nadatnan (The surrounding garbage stinks more than the dead bodies but there was nothing we can do but take it),” he said.
NBI regional director Jose Justo Yap said they earlier requested to use the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) hangar in Barangay Lumbia for the conduct of forensic examination, also known as the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), but they got no response.
The NBI processed on Tuesday at least 10 dead bodies for future identification and placed them in cadaver bags with proper markings and tags.
The dead bodies may already be buried at a temporary site inside the Bolonsiri Memorial Park in Barangay Camaman-an, which the City Government earlier prepared.
“If there are relatives who would claim the bodies, we will also get DNA samples and then match it with the DNA sample taken from the dead. If it matches, then that’s the time the relative can exhume the dead from the temporary burial site,” Tierra said.
Tierra advised those with missing family members or relatives not to go to the dumpsite anymore but wait for the forensic experts to finish conducting the DVI.
But Tierra quickly said it would take a year and a half for the NBI to come out with the result.
There were at least 67 dead bodies, which are victims of Tropical Storm Sendong-triggered floods, to be processed but the number is expected to swell, especially that retrieval operations are still ongoing.
The NBI assured to finish the conduct of the forensic examination by Friday.
The NBI team is composed of forensic photographers, fingerprints examiner, dentist forensic doctor and technicians, who would conduct the forensic examination using the three major parameters like fingerprints, collection of dental and DNA samples.
Tierra also clarified that dead bodies do not pose a risk of infection or any epidemics, contrary to the claims of some local officials.
He said microorganisms that cause decomposition do not cause illness to the people and most infection agents would die within hours of a person’s death.
Earlier, some local officials and the public expressed apprehension of the possible occurrence of illnesses from those unclaimed and unburied bodies that already produce bad odor.
Mayor Vicente Emano decided to have a mass burial to prevent this from happening, but Tierra brushed this aside, calling it as “just a perception.”
The Department of Health (DOH) earlier issued an advisory that mass graves should not normally be used for burying disaster victims.
The DOH said under no circumstances should a mass burial take place when this goes against the cultural and religious practices of those affected.
Tierra said relatives of the victims should be allowed to identify, mourn and bury their dead separately.
“Mass burials are not needed because dead bodies have not caused epidemics ever since. Unidentified corpses should be placed in individual bags with photographs and proper tagging then buried in identified temporary burial site,” Tierra said.
Meanwhile, Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo said the high death toll in the flashflood in Cagayan de Oro City last week could have been caused by damaged dams in the upstream of the city river.
“It is most likely that the flashflood in Cagayan de Oro was caused not only simply by the high volume of rain that fell in the watershed of rivers in said places but essentially of the collapse of dams at the upper parts of the rivers,” he said.
At present, the reported collapse of three dams–one of which costs P20 million–is currently being investigated, upon instructions of President Benigno Aquino III.
Surging floodwaters brought by the rains of “Sendong” swamped communities along the 22-kilometer path of the Cagayan de Oro River, which occurred when most people are still asleep on Saturday dawn.
Montejo also confirmed on Wednesday the planned delisting of “Sendong” because of its damage to infrastructure, agriculture, and school buildings has reached nearly P1 billion.
“Sendong” will no longer be used as a name for visiting tropical cyclones in the future after it battered several areas in Visayas and Mindanao last week, killing more than 1,000 people in its four-day swing.
A storm name can only be delisted if the damage exceeds P1 billion or if it killed over 300 people, according to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
This year, however, saw the re-appearance of the La Niña phenomenon that brings above-average rainfall.
Three more codenames were decommissioned by Pagasa in the past seven months.
These are “Pedring”, “Bebeng”, and “Juaning”, which caused damage of over P12 billion, P1.37 billion and P2.2 billion, respectively.
“Pedring” crossed Central Luzon provinces including Metro Manila in late September, inflicting heavy damage to property and disrupting electricity and communications services.
Several towns especially in the rice-producing province of Bulacan and Pampanga were submerged for weeks.
“Bebeng” cut through the provinces in Bicol Region last May, destroying farm lands, houses, and triggering landslides in the area, while “Juaning” slammed Northern and Central Luzon in late July.
Pagasa had already prepared the names of storms that will hit the country until 2016. (Virgil Lopez/Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on December 22, 2011.
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2011/12/21/forensic-exams-dead-bodies-landfill-start-197006
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