At a garbage landfill at Barangay (village) Upper Carmen in Cagayan de Oro City, a National Bureau of Investigation team headed by Dr. Wilfredo Tierra continued the grim task of identifying 77 decomposing bodies that could not be accommodated in funeral homes.
The NBI team had to work in the middle of the garbage dump with nothing to protect them from the sun except for several tarpaulin tents amid the stench of rotting bodies and trash.
“There is always an ideal site that is pleasant, secluded, secure and safe for us to work,” he said.
The NBI has requested the use of the hangar in Lumbia Airport, but its owner, the National Power Corp., has yet to act on the request.
Mayor Vicente Emano has ordered the transfer of the bodies to the landfill where relatives can view the remains. Residents have criticized the move, saying that the dead deserved dignity and respect.
But Emano said he did not have a choice because residents were complaining of the stench and that relatives of the victims were requesting for a mass burial.
Tierra has urged the mayor not to push through with his plans for the mass burial. “Except for the foul smell, there is no danger or health hazard,” he said.