MANILA, Nov. 19 (PNA) — The Aquino government has set up a system in handling and identifying typhoon victims bodies in the hardest-hit regions by super typhoon Yolanda (internationally known as Haiyan), Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma Jr. said.
“The casualty retrieval process is proceeding in accordance with the established protocols. There are protocols for identifying and also for properly preparing the cadavers in appropriate burial sites,” Coloma said during the regular press briefing in Malacanang on Tuesday.
The Department of Anthropology of the University of the Philippines is fielding a team of volunteers to aid in the identification of remains, Coloma said.
“They are working with the Public Attorney’s Office, which is also under the Department of Justice, and these are resource persons in forensic anthropology as well as osteology,” the Communications Secretary said.
“According to the explanation, what they will do is a step below the use of DNA because the DNA process is quite expensive and also extensive. But this could be a good approximation. But they would need the support of relatives of those that are still missing and have been unaccounted for,” Coloma said.
Coloma said the NDRRMC has already formed five clusters namely peace and order, distribution of food and other relief goods, cadaver recovery and burial, clearing and inspection, and normalization.
“So this segment of the operation, as I reported earlier, is also being undertaken in earnest because we have organized a specific cluster within the NDRRMC that will take care of the cadaver recovery and burial efforts,” he stressed.
“So you can be assured, our public can be assured, that everything is being done in order—that we will pay due respect, we will accord due respect to those that have perished and for the solace of their families,” Coloma said. (PNA)