Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Team starts taking DNA samples
THE collection of DNA samples from relatives of victims of the mv Princess of the Stars tragedy started yesterday afternoon, with 30 teams doing the job.
“We have decided to start the DNA collection immediately since if we wait until tomorrow, it will only be a waste of valuable time,” said Supt. Anthony Obenza, chief of the Philippine Center on Transitional Crime Visayas Field Office (PCTC-VFO).
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Ronald Roderos said the governments of Canada and Singapore have also offered their disaster victim identification (DVI) specialists.
Roderos said that when the sunken ferry is refloated, an estimated 200 more bodies are expected to be recovered and more DVI experts will be needed.
There is also no need to worry about a shortage of kits because the International Police (Interpol) assured they will provide more if the present supply is not enough, City Councilor Gerardo Carillo said.
In a meeting yesterday, officials decided to take 300 DNA samples a day.
There are 30 police officers and 30 health workers each day assigned to take the samples.
300 a day
Carillo explained that each team, consisting of one police officer to conduct interviews and one medical worker to extract the DNA sample, can only get 10 samples a day, which is why they can only serve 300 each day.
As the PRO 7 will train more police officers for the job, Carillo is calling on volunteer doctors and nurses to help hasten the collection of samples to 500 a day. They just have to proceed to the action center at the Cebu City Sports Complex and look for Ricky Ballesteros or Alvin Santillana.
Carillo said a police officer has to be present because they need to “observe the chain of custody” of the samples, as some claims may reach litigation. He said the process of taking samples could be questioned, that is why the police officer is present to conduct the interview.
Carillo said relatives will be given a schedule when they can have their DNA samples taken.
Testing will be done alphabetically and on a first-come, first-served basis. They will also designate one team to serve those who are not from Cebu so they can be attended to first.
Though only 3,000 testing kits arrived, they expect to collect 4,000 samples.
As for the issuance of death certificates, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) examining officer will issue the death certificate and these will be registered at the Cebu City Civil Registrar’s Office.
Unidentified bodies will be tagged and samples will be sent to the National Disaster Coordinating Council in case these match others in different missing persons lists.
Families from neighboring provinces were also at the Cebu City Sports Complex for the activity. Families that were unable to have their DNA samples collected yesterday will be prioritized today, said Dr. Renato Bautista, chief of the NBI medico-legal division. (MEA/EPB)
