ITOGON, Benguet — The forensic team of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is asking relatives of fatalities in the Typhoon Ompong-induced landslide here to be patient, as identifying the recovered bodies gets more difficult with time, especially with the lack of victims’ dental records.
The team said on Monday the bodies have begun to decompose beyond recognition, as it had been nine days after the fatal landslide.
“Halos wala na ma-lift na fingerprint (We can almost not get a fingerprint),” said Dr. Wilfredo Tierra, chief of staff of the NBI Forensic Investigation Service, in a discussion with Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary Marie Rafael at the “processing” area in Barangay Ucab on Sunday.
Tierra said just like fingerprints, dental records can show the identity of a person, and determine one’s gender and if it belongs to a certain family.
“With DNA, you can say they are relatives, you can say who is male and who is female, but you cannot tell the relatives who among them is Juana, Pedro, Petra, Karlo, or Peter. You can only say they are relatives,” he said, adding that dental records are better, as these can show if the person recovered is Petra.
DNA, only option
However, with the difficulty of getting the bodies’ fingerprints and the absence of their dental records, the team has to settle with getting just the DNA of each recovered body.
“So ang nagiging fallback na lang is DNA (So the fallback is DNA testing), which is a very complicated and expensive process,” Tierra said, adding his team’s biologist collects biological samples from the body and relatives are also interviewed for more biological samples to match.
With the use of DNA examination, he said “the release of bodies will take time, as intensive examination is being conducted to determine the identity of the recovered cadaver.”
Tierra said although it took a long time and a tedious process, his team was able to identify one person last Saturday.
He said they also use secondary evidence in identifying bodies, such as clothes, jewelry worn by the person, cellphone, and other identifying information received from relatives.
He, however, said proofs of the person’s properties have to be coupled with evidence, not just verbal claims.
“From here, we have a very overwhelming secondary parameters of identification, like clothing, deformities, malformation, tattoo marks, jewelry, which we can use in identification, but there has to be an evidence as we are dealing with legal implications later on if we commit a mistake,” the forensic expert explained.
“Hindi po natin pwedeng madaliin ito. Iniuugnay po ito sa lahat ng bagay sa pagkakakilanlan sa kanila. Kumukuha din po tayo ng document from relatives (We can’t just rush this. We have to connect all factors concerning the body to the relatives) like dental records, but most of them do not have any,” he said.
The NBI team is composed of doctors, dentists, fingerprint examiner, and support staff, who implement the identification process.
As of Saturday, the forensic team had released 15 bodies to the rightful claimants.
“Masusi po ang imbestigasyon, hindi pwedeng madaliin. Nasauli na rin properties (We do an extensive investigation. We cannot rush this. We have also returned the properties [to the families],” Tierra said.
NBI as repository of records
Tierra said the NBI is a repository of all fingerprint and dental records.
Presidential Decree No. 1575 issued on June 11, 1978 requires dentists to keep records of their patients and after a lapse of 10 years from the last entry. However, the law also requires the turnover of these records to the NBI for use in the identification of persons to help in solving crimes and in settling certain disputes, such as claims for damages, insurance, and inheritance.
He said the NBI, led by forensic dentists, reminded the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) of this law three years ago.
Tierra also reiterated the importance of having complete and updated dental records.
“An oral examination will take only about five minutes, the most practical, the cheapest, and easiest for comparison to use in identifying cadavers,” he said.
He said the Philippines is the third most disaster-prone country in the world and most of the victims are poor. “We have a lot of experience when the fallback in identifying cadavers is DNA,” he said, noting the lack of Filipinos’ dental records.
“Mga mahihirap na kababayan ang prone sa hazard and disasters na wala silang ganun, pero sana magkaroon ng programa kasinakakatulong din (Our poor fellowmen are the most prone to hazards and disasters among us, but they don’t have dental records. Wish we could have a program on that because it helps),” Tierra lamented.
Costly DNA test
In doing the DNA examination, especially when there is a mass fatality like in Itogon, Tierra explained that biological samples are matched with each sample.
He, however, noted that each sample costs about PHP25,000 and it would require samples from at least four close relatives to determine their relationship.
“Hindi ito tulad ng napapanood natin sa television na napakadali (This is not like what we see on television, where it seems very easy [to identify bodies]). We are dealing with a mass casualty. Bawat process may kanya-kanyang DNA profile na kailangan at may equipment nakailangan (Each process needs a certain DNA profile, as well as certain equipment),” Tierra said.
“We need at least two primary reference samples. Example, ang nawawala ay anak. Yung parents, siblings, o offspring kukunan. Masmarami, mas maganda and the government spends for it (If the one missing is a child, DNA samples are obtained from the parents, siblings or offspring. The more samples, the better, and the government is the one spending for it),” he added.
He said the samples are analyzed using a genetic analyzer that the NBI has acquired for PHP15 million.
Half of the DNA of a person is from one parent, which will require that samples from both parents be obtained. In case of the absence of parents, samples from siblings or offspring can also be used, he explained further.
“Using the genetic profile of the cadaver as reference and manual matching with relatives or software matching, the relationship can be determined,” Tierra said.
He also explained that in software matching, a tedious process and validation of encoding must be done to get a definite relationship with the relatives.
“This is a very complicated and expensive process. That is why we are pushing for the use of dental records, which is fast and practical,” Tierra said.
Following a process vs. culture
A number of families have first refused to have an autopsy and other processes required by the forensic experts, saying these are against their culture.
Tierra, however, said his team explained and eventually persuaded the families to agree for the bodies to go through the scientific process of identification.
Fortunately, one of the communities’ leaders helped convince the families to oblige.
Gov’t system for dental check-up
Meanwhile, PCOO’s Rafael committed to raise the concern on dental records to the Department of Health and other concerned agencies for the possible implementation of programs requiring, at least initially, government employees to have full and updated dental records.
“Probably we can ask the DOH (Department of Health) and the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government),” Rafael said. (Liza Agoot/PNA)
