CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu Regional Trial Court granted the ex-parte motion filed by the Public Attorney’s Office to exhume the 36 unidentified dead victims of typhoon "Frank" buried on June 21 in a Cebu City cemetery.

RTC Judge Soliver Peras of Branch 10 granted the motion during a hearing Monday afternoon when PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta cited the need for the exhumation of the 36 unidentified buried cadavers which the National Bureau Investigation-Disaster Victims Identification (NBI-DVI) officials could not identify through DNA testing.

The NBI-DVI earlier explained that the bodies were not identified due to lack or absence of DNA samples from relatives that could be matched with those of the bodies believed to be among the passengers of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars.

Dr. Erwin P. Erfe, one of the members of the University of the Philippines Independent Forensic Group, also told the court that the DNA testing was one of the least effective ways of identifying bodies.

“Based on research, the most effective way of identification of cadavers is through anthropological methods such as physical evidence, dental, fingerprints,” Erfe said.

When the judge asked him why their group showed interest in the identification of the bodies after the mass burial, Erfe said he and his colleagues volunteered to help a couple of months ago but the NBI-DVI refused their offer.

Erfe said members of his group were told that the NBI was the only one authorized to undertake the identification process.

However, NBI-DVI director Renato Bautista Jr. said through a text message Monday late afternoon that the “collaborative effort” the group has extended was offered when his office already completed the examinations.

Bautista also refused to comment on Erfe’s statement that DNA testing was the least effective way of identification since according to him he was not present when the statement was made.

Judge Peras has asked the forensic group to submit within three days its plans, time frame, and persons involved in the exhumation.

Erfe said the group would conduct the anthropological method at the temporary laboratory that would be built within the Carreta cemetery, where the bodies were interred.

Erfe, who is also a professor of Forensic Medicine at the Ateneo School of Law and an active member of the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute and the International Academy of Legal Medicine, will be joined by Dr. Benito Molino, an expert in skeletal analysis, forensic odontologist (teeth expert) Dr. Anastacio Rosete, who is also a proven expert in dental identification, and forensic anthropologist professor Jerome Bailen of the University of the Philippines.

The experts were requested by the victims' kin through PAO’s Acosta to extend their expertise in identifying the unidentified bodies using more effective and proven methods of disaster victim identification other than DNA matching.

Meanwhile, Maria Faith Maroto, sister of John Tomas Inso, one of the missing crew members of the Princess of Stars, saw hope in this new development.
During the June 21 “mass burial,” Maroto was one of the 40 relatives of the missing crew who approached Transportation Undersecretary Elena Bautista and NBI-DVI Director Renato Bautista Jr., urging them to conduct another round of DNA sampling.