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Owners of eateries surrounding the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes on Junquera Street, Cebu City complained of the stench coming from the bodies of the victims of the MV Princess of the Stars.
The cadavers arrived on board the MV Cebu Princess yesterday morning and were brought to the Cosmopolitan for processing by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) forensic team so these could be identified and claimed by their families.
Rowena Alferez, who owned an eatery and boarding rooms in one of the buildings in the area, said that since the first batch of bodies arrived about 10 a.m., only a few customers ate in her eatery because they could not stand the stench that wafted out of the funeral home.
Most of them just decided to buy food for take out, said Alferez. She added that the stench also permeated the rooms rented out on the second and third floors of the building.
“Who wants to eat when the stench was nauseating. Even I could not eat because I'm grossed out,” Alferez said in Cebuano.
The stench could be smelled about 300 meters away from the funeral home.
Another eatery owner, Floro dela Peña, said he understood the situation because what happened was a tragedy and that the situation was only temporary.
He said that half of his usual daily customers did not show up to eat during lunch time.
On regular days, Dela Peña said his eatery would be full of customers during lunch.
“A lot did not eat lunch in my eatery but we have to understand the situation because they are just victims of a tragedy,” Dela Peña said.
Adilo Estor of the GDS Security Agency assigned at the Emerson building located across Cosmopolitan, said that most of their tenants left the establishment when the bodies started arriving.
The building houses apartments and commercial establishments and has a total of 50 tenants.
Estor said the odor was at its worst about 10 a.m. when the bodies started arriving. About 1 p.m., the stench lessened after the chemicals were poured unto the bodies to control the smell.
One of the building occupants, who refused to be identified, said she was concerned for her health.
She urged the Cosmopolitan, the Sulpicio Lines and the city government to speed up the identification process so they would not have to sacrifice.
Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama assured that the stench would not affect the health condition of the people in the area.
When sought for comment, Cebu City Councilor Gerry Carillo said people, who were affected by the foul smell, were better off than the families and relatives of the victims.
“They are better off because they are only suffering because of the foul smell. If the situation was changed, if they lose a member of their family, which would they choose,” Carillo said.
With more bodies arriving in the next few days, the NBI suggested to place them inside refrigerated container vans.
The suggestion would be one of the things to be discussed in a meeting this noon at the Cebu City Sports Center to be attended by Dr. Renato Bautista, Sulpicio Lines Inc. officials and other members of the Task Force MV Princess of the Stars.
Rama said that if the suggestion was approved, the cadavers would only be placed inside the refrigerated container vans after the viewing by the families. CORRESPONDENTS CHRIS A. LIGAN, CHITO O. ARAGON AND JHUNNEX NAPALLACAN
