CEBU CITY — Eight more bodies of landslide victims from the City of Naga were identified by the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) through forensic identification on Thursday.
Direct family members of the missing persons are also asked to submit DNA samples to help identify some of the recovered bodies.
NBI-7 medico-legal officer Dr. Rene Cam identified the bodies as those of Sweetie Ubas, Chede Pansoy, Olivia Santillan Yapac, Robert Cañada, Ruben Candole, Vince Abanda, Benjie Sasan, and Susana Aguanta.
Cam said a total of 49 cadavers have been brought to the Cebu Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes where they are conducting disaster victim identification (DVI) of unidentified fatalities .
Of the 49 cadavers, 21 are not whole but only body parts. Cam said they consider one body part as one cadaver.
The NBI medico-legal officer said they are processing cadavers with complete body parts as of the meantime.
Cam is also requesting direct family members of missing persons to submit DNA samples as some of the fatalities have no distinguishing features or marks on their bodies and the NBI needs to do DNA testing to be able to identify them.
Meanwhile, four more bodies were retrieved from the landslide site late Thursday afternoon, including the remains of Naga Sangguniang Panglungsod (SP) staff Therisa Shyne Capoy and her brother Christopher John Lagapa, which brings the death count to 67 as of 5:45 p.m.
Naga SP secretary and Emergency Operations Center spokesman Garry Cabotaje said there are still 18 persons missing, but rescuers believe there is a very slim chance of finding any of them alive after eight days of being buried under tons of landmass.
Cabotaje said they now have 11 evacuation centers in Naga as the number of displaced families and individuals have reached 1,716 and 7,642, respectively.
These affected families will be provided housing units at the Gawad Kalinga relocation site and at the Balili property by the National Housing Authority (NHA), Cabotaje added.
Earlier, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza arrived at Naga City Hall and handed over her government’s PHP2-million donation to Naga Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong.
Minglanilla Municipal Mayor Elanito Peña also delivered a PHP500,000 check and relief goods from the Minglanilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry. ( Luel Galarpe/PNA)
