MANILA, Philippines—Should the recovered bodies of the victims of the sinking of MV Princess of the Stars be buried immediately to prevent an outbreak of disease, or should they remain aboveground until their kin can identify them, and more significantly for a last glimpse of their loved ones?

This is the dilemma facing authorities.

A forensic expert said there should be no rush to bury the dead but the remains should be shielded from public eye.

Officials of San Pascual town in Masbate province, however, decided on Wednesday to bury 19 decomposing corpses believed to have come from the sunken ship to avert an outbreak of diseases. The bodies were recovered last Tuesday.

“There’s no formalin or body bags here. There was no choice but to bury them,” Air Force Col. John Estoesta, commander of the military’s advance command post in Masbate, told reporters in Manila by phone.

Identification and closure

But Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), appealed to local government officials to refrain from burying the bodies of the victims of the sinking to enable their proper identification.

“We want to identify the bodies so the relatives of the dead could finally have closure,” Gordon said in a press conference at PNRC headquarters in Manila.

Gordon pointed out that the bodies would not spread diseases, contrary to what most people think.

“They just need to cover the bodies in the meantime and put them in a separate shed. Besides, hastily burying bodies without giving the relatives the chance to identify them is unethical,” he said.

Thirteen other bodies were washed ashore in different parts of San Pascual town and were being retrieved, Estoesta said. They would also be buried in a mass grave.

A total of 44 bodies have been buried in the municipalities of Claveria and Mulanay in Quezon province, and in San Pascual and Burias towns in Romblon province, according to the PNRC.

Specific features

Dr. Raquel Fortun, a University of the Philippines (UP) pathologist, said there must be a systematic and detailed external examination of all the remains recovered while the soft tissues were still there for documentation and proper identification.

By soft tissues, she meant human flesh that determines specific features of an individual such as the face, scars, moles and even ear piercing.

Fortun is a forensic pathologist trained in Japan and the United States. Her expertise, mainly in the identification or examination of corpses, has been sought in various high-profile cases and major disasters.

These include the Damas de Assocacion de Filipinas orphanage fire in Manila, the Ozone Disco fire in Quezon City, the Payatas dump slide, also in Quezon City and the Chiong sisters rape case in Cebu.

Health officials’ decision

Estoesta said the decision to bury the remains of unidentified dead, including those of a young boy, was reached by San Pascual Mayor Zacarina Lazaro after conferring with local health officials.

Estoesta said that according to the health officials, the bodies could be buried in a shallow grave as their stench and sight were too much for the residents to bear. It might also trigger an outbreak of diseases in the villages, he said.

Pictures taken

Estoesta said the San Pascual local government took pictures of the dead, including prominent marks on the bodies, so that their families could later identify them.

He expressed hope that forensics examinations would be able to help identify those buried in the mass graves.

Estoesta said San Pascual local officials continued to receive reports from villagers of dead bodies either floating or being washed ashore.

Child tied to life vest

Most of them were wearing life jackets, including a child who had been tied to a life vest.

“There are a lot of reported sightings of dead bodies along the coastline of Burias Island and Masbate,” Estoesta said.

He said some villagers no longer wanted to retrieve the bodies on their own because these were already decomposing.

Estoesta said his command post had already reported the sightings to the Philippine Coast Guard, which is the lead agency in the rescue of survivors and retrieval of bodies.

Gin to arrest stench

Navy divers have resorted to pouring gin over the decomposing bodies they have recovered to neutralize the stench, the Navy spokesperson, Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, said.

“We need substances to arrest the stench,” Arevalo said, adding that the Navy is also in need of more than 150 body bags.

The Navy divers Wednesday concentrated their operations on Burias Island and in San Pascual town, retrieving bodies.

Gordon said local officials should immediately contact the PNRC or the National Disaster Coordinating Council to inform them about the presence of bodies in their respective areas.

The government, he said, was responsible for bringing the bodies to Manila or Cebu for identification by forensic experts of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and UP.

“I’m getting support from the UP-Philippine General Hospital for psychosocial assistance and DNA-testing expertise,” Gordon said.

Proper training

The senator said not just anyone could conduct identification procedures.

“Proper training should be undertaken in identifying bodies,” Gordon said, responding to reports that local officials took pictures of the bodies before burying them to enable authorities to identify them later.

More and more bodies have been turning up in different parts of the country, including a decapitated man who was washed ashore in Libmanan town in Camarines Sur province early Wednesday morning, according to Gordon.

“The decapitated man could have been the victim of foul play, and burying him would only eliminate the chance of investigators finding out what really happened to him,” Gordon said.

He said he had requested Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez for help in securing a court order for the exhumation of the bodies.

40 fishing vessels missing

Gordon noted that 40 fishing vessels had been reported missing at the height of typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen) over the weekend.

The 16-member group of medical experts that the NBI sent to Cebu City Wednesday will conduct forensic examinations on the victims, whose bloated and decomposing bodies made it hard for relatives to properly recognize them.

NBI spokesperson Allan Contado said the team would coordinate with the victims’ relatives for information like dental records and unique physical marks.

“It would probably take them two to three months, depending on the number of unidentified cadavers and the difficulty of distinguishing them,” Collado said.

DSWD inquiry desks

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has activated 24-hour inquiry desks for families of the victims, according to Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral.

The inquiry desks are found in the Sulpicio Lines offices in Port Area, Manila and in the Reclamation Area in Cebu City.

In the Sulpicio Lines office in Manila, the DSWD social workers have undertaken the listing of 336 families which claim to be relatives of the victims.

Stress debriefing

“Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) sessions are being conducted on 35 family members of the victims to help them cope with their traumatic experiences. CISD is a psychosocial intervention given to victims of traumatic incidents to lessen the impact of the trauma by expressing their emotions,” Cabral said.

CISD sessions are held under the supervision of psychiatrists or psychologists to prevent victims of disasters and their families from suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Our social workers are coordinating with Sulpicio Lines, Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine National Red Cross to address the concerns of the survivors and the families of the missing passengers,” Cabral said. With a report from Allison W. Lopez