Human or not? Expert urges forensic exam of Taal bones
MANILA, Philippines — The items recovered from Taal Lake, believed to be the remains of missing sabungeros, must undergo thorough examination, a forensic expert said.
Dr. Raquel Fortun, a forensic expert, said the examination must be systematic and scientific to determine whether the items retrieved by authorities from a sack are human bones.
In recent days, the Philippine Coast Guard has recovered from Taal Lake’s lakebed what appear to be charred bones inside sacks. However, it has yet to be confirmed whether the remains are human.
Fortun expressed skepticism about the supposed human bones recovered by authorities, emphasizing that they need to be properly examined.
“Very sketchy yung pictures na lumabas. Ang unang tanong: kung buto man 'yan, human or not? Kasi kung hindi siya human, [kung] hayop, walang kuwenta, walang issue,” Fortun said in a DZBB interview on Sunday, July 13.
(The pictures that came out are very sketchy. The first question is: if those are bones, are they human or not? Because if they’re not human, just animal bones, then they’re useless and not an issue.)
“Kung human 'yan, madaling isang tingin mo lang. You don't need fancy testing, kung human or not,” she added.
(If it's human, you can tell just by looking. You don't need fancy testing to know if it's human or not.)
Fortun also said the government has yet to refer any of the recovered items to her for forensic examination.
She expressed concern, saying that based on a photo, the contents of the sack appeared to have been spilled and transferred to another.
Fortun said such an action at the scene was improper, as both the contents and the original sack should have been thoroughly examined as evidence.
“Kinalat nila sa lupa. Ang suspetsya ko, binuksan n'yo, kinalat n'yo sa lupa, 'di man lang sa ibaba o halimbawa ng body bag para hindi mawala,” she said.
(They scattered it on the ground. My suspicion is that you opened it and spread it on the ground, not even on a surface or, for example, in a body bag so nothing would be lost.)
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) released a video on Sunday showing the murky lakebed of Taal Lake and the sacks discovered underwater.
On Saturday, July 12, the PCG recovered two more sacks from Taal Lake, bringing the total number of recovered sacks to five.
Coast Guard District Southern Tagalog commander Commodore Geronimo Tuvilla said the sacks containing suspected bones were turned over to Scene of the Crime Operatives for examination.
Why do the authorities search the Taal Lake. Self-proclaimed whistleblower Julie Patidongan claimed that the missing cockfighting enthusiasts were first executed and then dumped into Taal Lake.
He also accused gaming tycoon Atong Ang and three other individuals of allegedly masterminding the disappearances — an allegation that Ang has denied.
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