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Aforensics group authorized by a Cebu court to exhume 38 unclaimed bodies of victims of the MV Princess of the Stars sinking said they are out to “help the victims” and not to dispute anyone when it comes to identifying the remains.
“In agreeing to help in the identification, we do not question the identification efforts of the NBI, the Interpol, other foreign experts and the local government who contributed their efforts. We laud them for their efforts and sacrifices. We are not adversaries,” said the Independent Forensics Group (IFG) in a statement.
One of its members, Dr. Erwin Erfe, said their group volunteered to hold an anthropological examination on the 38 unclaimed bodies buried at the Carreta Cemetery last June 21.
The group submitted their action plan for the exhumation and investigation of remains before Regional Trial Court Judge Soliver Peras of Branch 10 last July 2 as ordered by the court.
Erfe, a forensics consultant of the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) and a professor of forensic medicine in the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law, said their task complements previous identification efforts.
“As forensic professionals, we regard our task as complementary to or carrying further the earlier I.D. efforts of the NBI and the foreign experts they worked with, to that end that with a fresh look at the remains, emphasizing other approaches in the identification process filling the gaps of inofrmation in the earlier attempt, more of the identified bodies could be positively identified and be given back to their rightful relatives,” Erfe said.
Earlier, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) voiced disappointment over what they said were claims made by Erfe that DNA testing is the least reliable process for identifying victims of mass disasters.
Erfe told the court in last week's hearing that other methods of identification like dental and skeletal examinations and fingerprint identification were used to identify the tsunami disaster victims in Phuket, Thailand in 2004 and the Sept. 11 bombings of the US World Trade Center in 2001.
Vice Mayor Michael Rama also echoed the ICMP's sentiments and said the PAO should have informed the Cebu City government of the hearing.
He said the group should not expect any assistance from them in their examination and identification of the remains.
But Erfe , in his press statement, said their group's action plan is geared towards helping the relatives identify the remains of their loved ones.”
“(So) that the culturally appropriate socio-cultural or religious mortuary rites be given to their dead,” Erfe said.
“The IFG's objective is to help our grieving countrymen and not to denigrate any institution or person's efforts. We are hoping that everybody will work towards this objective,” Erfe said in a letter to Cebu Daily News.
When relatives and family members of those who died in the sea tragedy sought for their help, Erfe said they agreed to help their grieving countrymen.
“In agreeing to help in the identification, we do not question the identification efforts of the NBI, the Interpol, other foreign experts and the local government unit who contributed their efforts. We laud them for their efforts and sacrifices,” Erfe said.
Last Monday, the court granted the PAO’s petition for exhumation of the bodies filed by 18 family members who want another test done to identify casualties of the June 21, 2008 sinking.
The remains will undergo an anthropological examination by a University of the Philippines (UP)-based forensics group.
For several months after the sinking, experts from the National Bureau of Investigation and Interpol had been using DNA testing of human tissue or bone.
The exhumation will take place in the third week of July.
