Kin stand watch as more victims of Valenzuela fire buried in nameless tombs

Emmanuel Madiclom stood watch as workers moved coffin after coffin into the nameless tombs that were built on top of one another at a Valenzuela City cemetery.

He was with a daughter as cemetery workers moved 49 coffins two days after the seven-hour blaze that hit the warehouse of Kentex Manufacturing Corp. in Barangay Ugong on Wednesday.

Madiclom lost his wife, a daughter and a sister-in-law in the fire.

The father and daughter didn't have a clue which among the remains that were being interred were those of their loved ones on Friday afternoon.

Twenty one bodies were buried on Thursday night.

“Kahit hindi ko pa alam kung sino sila diyan sa mga bangkay, gusto ko lang din siguraduhin, obserbahan kung mabibigyan sila ng maayos na libing,” Madiclom told GMA News Online.

At least 72 victims were charred from the five-hour inferno, most of them were women.

Coffins containing the remains of the victims were transported from a morgue beside the multi-purpose hall of Barangay Maysan to a public cemetery in Barangay Arkong Bato past 1 p.m.

“Hindi naman natin pwedeng pabayaan na mabulok nalang sila diyan sa morgue. Kailangang mabigyan sila ng maayos na libing kahit temporary lang,” Raf Porcincula, a city hall employee, told GMA News Online before the funeral convoy left the morgue.

“Lahat ng ililibing natin ngayon ay yun lamang naexamine na ng SOCO, nakunan na lahat yan ng DNA samples for proper matching and identification by the families of the victims,” Porcincula said.

“Tatlo palang sa mga biktima ang napangalanan na talaga at positively identified by the families..So, bale sa paglilibing natin sa kanila, lalagyan lang natin ng number ang bawat nitso,” Porcincula said.

 “Anyway, we have the files of their forensic examination and DNA samples, so kung may families na magcla-claim, titignan natin yung DNA samples nila (families) kung magmamatch doon sa record ng SOCO,” Porcincula expounded.

Porcincula said families of the positively-indentified victims may opt to exhume the remains from their temporary resting place and have them transferred to another cemetery, expenses of which “will be totally shouldered by the Valenzuela City government”.

Porcincula said families of the victims were already informed of the burial since Thursday night.

“May consent nila ito, siyempre hindi naman pwede talagang magtagal ng masyado sa morgue…anyway, kung later, na identify na yung remains, pwede namang pabuksan ng pamilya yung nitso at ipalipat yung bangkat sa ibang sementeryo,” Porcincula said.

The remains were buried the an apartment-type area of the cemetery. -NB, GMA News