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Tuesday, March 08, 2005
New autopsy on Alona; 1st 'not up to standard'
By Grecar A. Nilles
CEBU CITY -- The exhumation of Alona Bacolod-Ecleo raised more questions about her death, as a forensic expert said the first autopsy report that Alona died of strangulation was "not up to standard."
University of the Philippines (UP) forensic pathologist Raquel B. del Rosario-Fortun said there would have been no need to dig up Alona's body had the person who did the first autopsy made a thorough examination.
"Unfortunately, bitin yung initial findings sa first autopsy. It is not within my authority to comment as to the admissibility of the (autopsy report). But as far as the first autopsy is concerned, whether it passed based on the standards of forensic pathology, the answer is, it does not. Sorry to say that," Fortun said.
She also said she would try to answer all questions surrounding the death of the woman believed to be Alona.
Regional Trial Court Branch 9 Judge Geraldine Faith Econg's order, however, only directed Fortun, the National Bureau of Investigation and the PNP Crime Laboratory to get samples for the DNA and dental exams of the corpse.
Defense lawyer Giovanni Mata earlier even objected to the extraction of the teeth of the cadaver, since the order did not categorically state that this procedure is allowed.
Also Monday, the prosecution lawyers asked the court that DNA samples should also taken from Ruben Ecleo Jr. and his three children with Alona.
They said the DNA samples will also be needed to determine that the body buried in the Cebu South Memorial Garden in Cansojong, Talisay City was that of Alona.
Ecleo, who is out on a P1-million bail, is accused of killing his wife three years ago.
Strangulation
Dr. Nestor Sator of the PNP Crime Laboratory 7 had autopsied the body believed to be that of Alona and concluded that the woman died of strangulation.
He testified that the woman could have been strangled using the hands and that the assailant could have been in front of her.
According to prosecution witnesses, Alona died in the night of Jan. 5, 2002 in the hands of her husband.
A woman's body stuffed inside a black garbage bag was found in Barangay Coro, Dalaguete, Cebu three days later.
The Bacolods believed the body was that of Alona.
Fortun said the first autopsy should have already answered the cause of death, manner of death and identity of the body.
"If the body was adequately examined, exhumation of the body, after more than three years from the time of the incident, should not have been necessary," Fortun said.
Fortun examined the body for almost four hours inside the morgue of St. Francis Funeral Homes.
"The body is not too bad. May makukuha pa. You can never say that the effort (exhumation and re-autopsy) was futile. All things considered, it was not too bad at all," she said.
If the procedure was followed, Sator could have properly documented the autopsy, made diagrams and took detailed photographs of the cadaver, among other things, "since the body will not last."
Fortun said she had more questions than answers when she saw the body, which took her four hours to examine.
"I did my best to get everything that we can get. There are parts that were not properly dissected. Basic question in an autopsy is: 'Is that really her?' What was the cause of death? The question of identification should have been addressed already," she said.
Overnight stay
Judge Econg also ordered Monday that the body should stay overnight in the funeral parlor after the examination ended almost 7 p.m. last night.
She said that bringing the body back to the cemetery and burying her last night was too risky.
The NBI, UP pathology department, and the PNP Crime Lab will get swab and blood samples from brothers Angelito, Ricky and Josebil Tuesday morning.
The lawyers will also have to agree on the time the body would be buried again.
More than 30 policemen guarded the cemetery at the exhumation Monday, while representatives from the CAV and Alona's relatives witnessed the exhumation.
However, they were advised not to witness the re-autopsy. Vital organs were taken from the cadaver.
DNA tests
NBI's Dr. Idabel Pagulayan said they asked for the DNA samples of Ecleo and his three children with Alona to definitely determine if the body buried in Talisay was really that of Alona.
She said that since the NBI facilities is more inclined in nuclear DNA examination-an analysis for the not-so degraded samples-they can reconstruct the body more accurately by comparing it with the samples of Ecleo and the three children.
Prosecution lawyers Fritz Quiñanola and Alfredo Sipalay, who heads the panel of private practitioners in the parricide case, said the DNA test will ultimately settle the identity of the body buried in Talisay City.
In Monday's exhumation, the digging of the coffin took about two hours, while several people milled around the gravesite.
Alona's four siblings silently watched the digging, while only Angelito went to the funeral parlor for security reasons.
Like what was allegedly done to Alona, the body was also stuffed inside a black garbage bag and wrapped with masking tapes, when the coffin was opened.
The experts said it would take more than two weeks to finish their examination on the samples.
(March 8, 2005 issue)
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