Just nine days after being entombed in Cebu City’s Carreta cemetery, 38 unclaimed remains of victims of the sunken MV Princess of the Stars will be dug up again.

Regional Trial Court Judge Soliver Peras yesterday granted the 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.

In yesterday’s hearing, Erwin Erfe, a physician- lawyer and forensic consultant of the Pubilc Attorney’s Office (PAO), said his team will be using skeletal remains of the cadavers and other basis to identify them.

The exhumation will take place in the third week of July.

He said DNA identification should not have been used as a “first-line” and primary method of identification since it is the least effective method in mass disasters.

He said 98 percent of the victims of the 2004 tsunami that hit Thailand were identified using dental examination, fingerprints and physical evidence.

DNA analysis only resulted in 1.3 of the identification. Research by the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in the identification efforts during the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center showed that DNA testing alone would have led to problems, he said.

The petitioners in the Princess of the Stars tragedy had sought the help of the Independent Forensic Group (IFG).

Helping in the identification is “running priest” Fr. Robert de los Reyes, who has a degree in anthropology from UP. He said the cadavers should be examined more carefully.

Judge Peras also ordered the National Bureau of Investigation-Disaster Victim Identification (NBI-DVI) team to transfer all documents on the cadavers.

Persida Rueda-Acosta, Public Attorney's Office (PAO) chief, appeared in court to explain the need for further examination.

She said relatives of the victims have the right to avail of all processes in their search.

“The right includes the right of the relatives of the missing persons to know the fate and the whereabouts of their loved ones,” she said.

Acosta said Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI), which arranged the mass burial in Carreta cemetery for the 38 unclaimed remains, doesn't own the cadavers.

“It would be a violation of the rights of the victims if their family members included in the sinking of the Princess of the Stars couldn't be identified,” she said.

Acosta said PAO will also help file a motion to retrieve remaining bodies inside the sunken vessel.

Dr. Erfe said their examination would also be useful to know if ship captain Florencio Marimon is still alive. He said they received reports that Marimon is in Palawan.

Dr. Reynato Bautista, head of the NBI-DVI team, said the court order has to be followed.He said a definite study should be made to prove that DNA sampling isn't useful in identifying victims of the sea tragedy.