NBI forensic team examines 100 Sendong dead in dumpsite  

A forensic team sent from Manila by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is used to working on dead bodies in laboratory conditions.  In Cagayan de Oro, they toil in a dumpsite in their trademark white gowns.  “Nadatnan na lang namin sila rito sa dumpsite. We have no other recourse but to do the identification here,” said Dr. Wilfred Torres, head of the 15-person Disaster Victim Identification Team. Around a hundred bodies of unidentified victims were brought to a landfill in Barangay Carmen to wait for identification by relatives, upon the instruction of local officials. Nearby residents, however, are demanding that they be removed. The powerful stench of rotting corpses wafts across the landfill and to nearby residential areas.  Funeral parlors have refused to keep decomposing bodies awaiting identification by family members. In the meantime, Torres and his team are examining the bodies to help identify them. Torres said he hopes the bodies can be transferred to a “safe, secure and secluded” place so that his team can better inspect the corpses.   He also appealed to residents who still have missing loved ones to coordinate with their local government units to facilitate the retrieval of the unidentified victims. The job of identifying so many dead is too big for the NBI team, according to Dr. Raquel Fortun, a forensic pathologist based in Manila. "The local governments should tap the municipal health officers, even medical and dental students," she said in an interview aired over Rock Ed Radio 88.3.  She also lamented the working conditions of the NBI team. "Why are the bodies on the ground? They should have tables." She said ideally, local companies should lend refrigerated trucks to prevent the decomposition of the dead.  Almost 1,000 people were killed and 46 others remain missing after Sendong ravaged portions of northern Mindanao last weekend, based on latest figures from the National Risk Reduction and Management Council. At least dozens of bodies remain unclaimed and unidentified, with many more families roaming the city searching for their missing and hoping for a miracle.  Local officials have declared plans to bury unclaimed bodies in mass graves, a move opposed by the Department of Health as unwarranted by health reasons.  Dr. Torres said his team performed scientific tests on the unidentified corpses to facilitate their identification.   “By just observation or merely looking sa mga katawan nila, imposible na ma-identify sila. Kailangan natin ng scientific na paraan para sila ay makilala at maibalik sa kanilang mga mahal sa buhay,” he said in an interview with GMA News Tuesday. Forensic inspections include documenting victims' dental features, tattoos and other distinctive marks.  Around 40 bodies have already undergone forensic inspections. Many more dead await their attention.  –Andreo C. Calonzo/Howie Severino/KG, GMA News