A temporary burial for 14 unidentified retrieved bodies engulfed during the Masara landslide was conducted on February 14, 2024, at Maco Public Cemetery in Maco, Davao de Oro, according to an official of the Management of the Dead and Missing (MDM).
“Ginawa namin yun after the waiting of 72 hours after the retrieval of those bodies. Some of the bodies were retrieved prior pa pero we just waited for the families to come in sa ating mga funeral homes na mag-identify ng kanilang families but sadly those 14 na unidentified bodies yung inuna natin doon because we have to follow health protocols,” MDM cluster head Lea Añora said in a media briefing on Masara landslide incident on Thursday.
Añora said the 14 unidentified bodies were composed of complete bodies, upper extremities, and lower extremities.
“Yung upper extremities and lower extremities already counted as one. In total we have 14 unidentified bodies for temporary burial,” she said.
She also said that MDM has conducted a DNA sampling with the National Bureau of Investigation-Disaster Victim Identification (NBI-DVI) at the funeral homes on Thursday.
“At the moment, there are still 31 retrieved bodies ang pino-postmortem examination ng ating NBI-DVI,” she said.
Añora reported that as of noon on February 15, 2024, a total of 90 bodies were retrieved (complete bodies and body parts) and 37 individuals remained missing.
She said MDM has catered to 48 antemortem data collection, processing 73 postmortem examinations, and has released 39 death certificates.
“We would like to request sa lahat ng mga family members, those who are still unidentified to follow the advisory ng LGUs on the processes pag identify ng ating mga retrieved bodies and also the update sa count ng ating mga retrieved bodies,” she said.
She also said that all actions were taken by the MDM including the one-stop-shop, which is still going on.
“If you observed we are catering families, continuous pa rin yung nag pa-pa-antemortem, continuous pa rin yung blotters and we also have here the collection of the retrieved belongings of the victims,” she said.
