Body of one of 'Toboso 19' was misidentified, say kin

The remains of a researcher who was supposedly among those killed in an alleged encounter in Toboso, Negros Occidental was misidentified, according to his relatives.

According to Raffy Tima’s report on “24 Oras” on Thursday, the kin of community researcher Errol Wendel said the body which was flown to Manila for an autopsy was not Wendel’s.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun conducted the autopsy on the remains of five of those killed in the April 19 encounter.

It was because of the autopsy that Wendel’s kin found out that the body was not his.

“’Hindi nagsusuot ng ganyan yung kapatid ko.’ That was the first, then tiningnan ko ‘yung height, mataas ‘yung kapatid niya, matangkad, e ang liit-liit nitong body, less than 160 cm, tapos may kalbo dito ‘yung body, definitely si Errol wala,” Fortun said.

(‘My brother doesn’t wear those kinds of clothes.’ That was the first. Then I checked the height. Wendel was taller, but the body was short, less than 160 cm, then the body had a bald spot, definitely Errol didn’t have that.)

More questions arose after Fortun’s autopsy of the five remains.

“Some had all three, may head, may trunk, may extremities (there were head, trunk, extremities), multiple gunshot wounds,” Fortun said.

The military said the Toboso 19 were alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and died in a firefight.

The relatives of some of the Toboso 19 maintained that thy were not combatants but civilians caught in the crossfire. This is why they approached Fortun for help.

Three of the remains examined by Fortun had gunshot wounds to the head, while others had gunshot wounds in the back.

A female victim had four gunshot wounds that were not fatal, but she may have died due to massive blood loss.

“’Yung tatlo hindi eh, pero ‘yung nasa leg niya tinamaan artery, tinamaan vein, then she bled,” Fortun said.

(The three were not fatal, but the one on her leg hit the artery, the vein, then she bled.)

Lawyer Julliane Agpalo of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), the lawyer of some of the victims, said the process for identifying the remains was not followed.

“’Eto ba yung kamag-anak mo,’ photograph, noong sinabing, ‘eto po ang kamag-anak ko,’ tinuro na sa kanila kung anong body bag ang ike-claim,” she said.

(‘Is this your relative? Then there’s a photograph. When they said, ‘this is my relative,’ they were pointed to the body bog that they should claim.)

The victims’ relatives are getting in touch with the kin of the other victims, who already buried their dead.

The wife of Filipino-American Lyle Prijoles, who was also killed in the alleged encounter, expressed her anger over her husband’s death.

“You wanna know my reaction? I’m angry,” said Marienne. “He regularly comes to the Philippines and just stopped when the pandemic happened, so he is usually here, integrating with the community.”

GMA News sought comment from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), but the military declined to issue a statement for now. This is pending a press conference of the 3rd Infantry Division about the alleged encounter. — JMA, GMA News