Court requested NBI to present data on 'Princess Stars' victims

CEBU, Philippines - The court yesterday asked the National Bureau of Investigation to explain why until now it has not submitted the needed documents that had information on the cadavers recovered from the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars which sank off the waters of Romblon in June 2008 in relation to the case filed against the vessel owner, the Sulpicio Lines Inc. 

The documents will help in the anthropological examination to be made by forensic experts.

During the hearing of the case, Regional Trial Court branch 19 Judge Soliver Peras asked NBI medico-legal officer, Dr. Renato Bautista, why they failed to present the documents that have been asked by the court.

This after the approval of the petition of 18 families of the victims to exhume bodies found in Carreta Cemetery, where the 38 unclaimed bodies were buried.

Bautista however said that it is not his call to turn over the documents since they also have an agreement with the International Police and the International Commission on Missing Persons, the foreign agencies that aided in the identification of the bodies.

Bautista said that although the agreement was only done verbally, they would still stand by their word in the confidentiality of the documents.

But he added that if NBI director Nestor Mantaring orders them to turn over the documents to the court, they would have no choice but to follow the directive.

The remains that would be exhumed would undergo anthropological examination by forensic experts. However, there is need to obtain the documents that contain the information on the cadavers.

But Bautista said that the forensic experts can proceed even without their documents.

He added that he also did not see how the exhumation and the additional tests would help since Interpol and ICMB have already done so much and they are definitely one of the best in terms of identification of bodies which services have been sought after by other countries as well. – AJ de la Torre/WAB