Bato disappointed over alleged PNP gaffe in handling Christine Dacera’s autopsy

Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa on Tuesday expressed disappointment over the alleged lapse of the Philippine National Police in handling the autopsy on flight attendant Christine Dacera's body.

"Paano ba kayo pumalpak doon, anong nangyari doon?... I hope hindi na ito mangyari ulit lalong lalo na 'yung mga ganyan na celebrated case, kailangan 'di ito mangyari ito ulit. Bakit naman inembalmo na bago mag-conduct ng autopsy?" Dela Rosa, a former PNP chief, said in a Senate hearing on the proposed Forensic DNA Database Act.

Police Brigadier General Marini Marcos Jr., director of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, said the medico legal officer who conducted the embalming has reasoned out that he just followed the new protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"As for the reason of the medico legal, it was stated in the new guidelines for the new normal on the autopsy of cadavers. Initially, he said that the victims has travel in other places, she came from a hotel that is a quarantine hotel, so with that your honor, in the new procedure he conducted a soft embalming," Marcos said.

"That is his reason but then as I said we are still investigating it if there are detailed procedures that he was not able to follow," he added.

Marcos further said that the chief of Makati City Police Office, two investigators, and the medical legal officer involved were already relieved from their posts while an internal probe is ongoing.

"Dapat lang kasuhan ninyo 'yung mga involved doon, nakakahiya. We are trying to professionalize the PNP," Dela Rosa said.

"Kahit na mayroon kang sinusunod na guidelines, ginawa mo na lang panangga iyon, ginawa mo na lang depensa 'yung guidelines na 'yun. But still logic will tell you na mali ang ginawa mo. Kahit na anong gawin mong depensa doon mali talaga 'yun," he added, referring to the officer who embalmed Dacera's body before autopsy.

The second autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation on Dacera's cadaver yielded bodily fluids.

Dacera was found unresponsive in the bathtub of a hotel in Makati a day after attending a New Year's Eve party with friends.

Her family believes she was drugged and sexually abused, but her friends, who are now accused of rape with homicide before the Makati prosecutor's office, maintained their innocence.

Eleven men face a criminal complaint for rape with homicide that is being investigated by the Makati prosecutor's office.

The NBI is also conducting a parallel probe on the case. — RSJ, GMA News