Search for long-lost Japanese uncle leads to a mass grave in QC

The spot at Novaliches Public Cemetery where the corpses retrieved from Henry Memorial Services in La Loma were buried. —LYN RILLON

Himiko Taniguchi, 27, has been searching for her long-lost uncle for the last 12 years. She thought Toshihiko, her father’s only sibling, loved the Philippines so much that he no longer wished to return to Japan.

Her search finally pointed her to a mass grave in Quezon City, where her uncle, as confirmed by local authorities and the Japanese Embassy, was recently buried.

Toshihiko’s remains were among the hundreds of decomposing bodies found by city health officials at Henry Memorial Services, a funeral home on A. Bonifacio Avenue in La Loma. In all, they retrieved about 340 bodies, including severed body parts and fetuses.

Workers needed three days to move all the corpses out in dump trucks for mass burial at Novaliches Public Cemetery. The pit had since been paved over but was still without any marker as of Saturday. It remains to be seen whether any family member of the dead, who had no name tags or any identifying records when found, would show up at the site this All Saints’ Day.

Still in Tokyo when the Inquirer got in touch with her through a video interview, Himiko herself can’t be there for Undas.

A death certificate shown to the Inquirer by a representative of Everlasting Funeral Service in Manila, the supposed keeper of Toshihiko’s body, showed that he died of “septic shock secondary to intra-abdominal infection” on Oct. 4 at San Lazaro Hospital. The certificate indicated that his death was reported by a concerned citizen.

Toshihiko, 66, did not have any family in the Philippines, Himiko said. “He was alone, as far as we know. Ever since he got left behind in the Philippines, our family has been searching for him, but we had no address, no contact number.”

Himiko’s family found out about his death six days after his passing, through friends in the Philippines. She asked a friend to check on her uncle’s body at the San Lazaro morgue, but hospital personnel said he had already been transferred to Everlasting.

“Everlasting said my uncle’s body was safe in their freezer,” she recalled. Himiko’s family began communicating with the funeral home for its cremation services, but she still asked her friend to go see the body and check if it was indeed Toshihiko’s.

Too late in the day

“But Everlasting said it was already late in the day, so they just showed us a photo,” she said.

Later, Himiko heard the news about the stockpile of bodies found at Henry Memorial but gave it little attention since “uncle is at Everlasting, anyway.” But the Japanese Embassy called and informed her family about a Japanese national who was included in the mass burial.

That’s when Everlasting officials admitted that Toshihiko’s body had been moved to Henry Memorial for “safekeeping” without her family’s knowledge, she said. “My family and I were so hurt and mad. How did Uncle end up there? Why didn’t they tell us?”

“We trusted them but they lied to us.” She said the owner of Everlasting had already apologized, but “we want to hold them accountable for what they did to my uncle. We’re so far away and it’s so difficult.”

Representatives from Everlasting earlier tried to retrieve Toshihiko’s remains when the bodies were being moved for mass burial, but city officials did not allow them. When approached by the Inquirer, they said they had paid Henry Memorial to hold the body for safekeeping, but declined to provide details of the arrangement.

Still no explanation

As of Saturday, 11 days after the inspection, Henry Memorial owner Oscar Parales and manager Severino Mancia have yet to surface to give an explanation. Quezon City health officer Maria Lourdes Elerea said “we are still in the process of gathering everything to file legal action. We will meet and discuss together with the other agencies.”

Senior Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, the city police chief, said he had tasked the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit to coordinate with the local government for the investigation. “If a case will be filed, we will wait for the arrest warrant so we can go after those accountable,” he said.

Himiko said she would just pray and light a candle for her uncle this All Saints’ Day. “I hope he finds peace knowing that we did everything to find him and to fight for him even in his death,” she said. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Uncle, but we did all that we can.”

The police and city health officials found around 340 bodies at Henry Memorial Services, which required three days to be transported for mass burial. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE