New chapter for sea tragedy: Court grants plea to exhume bodies

CEBU, Philippines – The Regional Trial Court yesterday ordered the exhumation of the close to 40 unidentified cadavers, believed to be passengers of the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars, that were buried in Cebu City during the anniversary of the sea tragedy for identification by independent forensic group.

RTC Branch 10 Judge Soliver Peras, who is hearing the consolidated civil cases for damages filed by the relatives of the victims against Sulpicio Lines Incorporated and its officials, granted the ex-party motion of the Public Attorney’s Office seeking for the exhumation of the unidentified bodies recently buried at the Carreta Cemetery.

Peras also ordered the National Bureau of Investigation-Disaster Victims Identification Team to turn over all the records related to the identification of the cadavers within 15 days to the independent forensic group tapped by the relatives of the missing victims.

PAO, which is assisting the relatives of the victims in the criminal and civil cases against the shipping firm, asked for the exhumation of the 36 unidentified cadavers that were buried in Cebu City last June 21 upon the request of more than 30 relatives from Manila.

The group of relatives requested the independent forensic group composed of University of the Philippines forensic professor Jerome Bailen, and doctors Erwin Erfe, Benito Molino and Anastacio Rosete to conduct the pathological examination on the unidentified cadavers hoping that it would match with that of their missing loved ones.

Bailen is a well-known anthropologist, Erfe is a professor of forensic medicine at the Ateneo Law School and active member of the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute and the International Academy of Legal Medicine.

Molino on the other hand is an expert in skeletal analysis while Rosete is a forensic odontologist with proven expertise in dental identification.

These independent forensic experts accepted the request from the relatives of the missing victims to offer their services for free prompting the PAO thru chief public attorney Persida Rueda Acosta to immediately file the ex-party motion for exhumation.

They argued that the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) method employed by the NBI-DVI team was not the effective means of identifying disaster victims. In their motion, which eventually convinced the court and permitted the exhumation, they cited several researches which said that DNA matching is the “least effective method of identification in mass disasters.”    PAO cited that in the Thailand Tsunami, 98 percent of the victims were identified using dental examinations, fingerprints and physical evidence.

According to PAO, DNA identification should not have been considered as the first-line method of identification. It also cited a research of the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner during the identification efforts of the World Trade Center bombing in 2001 wherein it said that “DNA testing alone would have led to problems.”

The research allegedly found that without the help of the forensic anthropologists in sorting out discrepancies in the DNA samples, DNA analysis would have led in the misidentification of victims.

PAO likewise cited the study made by the Department of Forensic Medicine of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand which stated that,” in disaster victim identification, the most effective method is dental examination, followed by fingerprint and the least effective is DNA analysis.”

Acosta said that the NBI-DVI team relied only in one method of identification which is the DNA. She added that they tried visiting the unidentified cadavers before they were buried but they were allegedly prevented by the NBI.

Dr. Rene Cam, NBI 7 medico legal officer and member of the DVI team, denied Acosta’s claim. Cam said they allowed the PAO to view the first batch of cadavers.

Cam explained that they did not anymore allow the viewing of the other batches of cadavers retrieved from the sunken vessel for health reasons. He added that it is also useless to view them because the faces are no longer recognizable.

Cam said it is not true that the DNA method is the “least effective” method of identifying disaster victim. In fact, he said it is the international standard used by first world countries.

Cam said the more that the PAO and its independent forensic group are insisting for the second line of identification the more they are exposing their “ignorance.”

Cam added that the 36 unidentified cadavers that were buried in Cebu are not passengers of the MV Princess of the Stars. He said they could be other victims of the typhoon Frank.

Cam said they have gone to other places to search for people who have missing relatives for purposes of collecting samples that would aid them in the identification of the corpses but their efforts failed.

Nevertheless, the independent forensic group is scheduled to start the exhumation in the third week of July. The forensic experts immediately visited the cemetery yesterday after the court granted the exhumation.

Erfe told reporters yesterday that they would need a portable x-ray machine and mobile laboratory at the cemetery where they will be conducting the examination.

The MV Princess of the Stars sunk off Sibuyan Island in Romblon on June 21, 2008 leaving more than 800 passengers and crew either dead or missing.  Of the total, only 456 bodies were retrieved, identified and returned to their families. More than 300 bodies are still missing.

But among the bodies which were retrieved and identified was that of the ship captain Florencio Marimon.

However, despite of the DNA result Acosta does not believe that Marimon was among the people who died.

Acosta said they have gotten information that Marimon is alive and is hiding somewhere in Palawan. Acosta said this is the reason why he was included in the criminal charges for reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide that they filed in Manila.

Acosta yesterday said that they also intend to implead in the complaint Captain Nestor Ponteres the port captain of Sulpicio Lines in Cebu. —/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)