Authorities will no longer exhume the body of the 19-year-old Lumad who was erroneously identified as a resident of UCCP-Haran.
The remains of the boy are now buried in Wireless Cemetery in Madapo Hills.
Dr. Ma Felicidad Mercedes Aulida, Regional Crime Laboratory XI medico-legal officer, said that there is no need to exhume based on the medical certificate issued by the Brokenshire Hospital. His death was identified as acute respiratory failure secondary to community-acquired pneumonia, and post-arrest pulmonary tuberculosis.
The boy was also a high-risk COVID suspect although there is no plan to conduct post-mortem swabbing. Aulida cited a law that prohibits the exhumation of infectious cases until five years from burial.
It is also the reason why Curtis Lazarraga, the chief Environmental Sanitation Division, did not issue the exhumation permit to the San Pedro Police Station.
Col. Kirby John Kraft, Davao City Police Office chief, said they based they only suspected the teenager–a member of the Tagakaolo tribe in Malita–as coming from UCCP-Haran based on the initial report of the barangay officials. However, upon further investigation by the San Pedro Police Station, they now have a clear picture of what happened.
“The first report on this was just alleged,” he said.
Kraft said that his father, Alex, admitted that his son had a history of tuberculosis and was rushed to the hospital on June 11. He died on the same day at 9:25 p.m.
The father stated that he was forced to bury his son on June 12 at 6:15 p.m. without a coffin because of poverty. He was buried in one of the columbariums in Wireless Cemetery because of the need for an immediate burial due to suspicions of COVID-19.
“It is not true that they did not secure permit as they even paid P7,040 at the city economic enterprise under the Office of the City Administrator,” Kraft said.
The dead teenager was a car wash boy who worked at a detailing shop in Ecoland. He had two other siblings.
The father said they still owed the hospital P25,000, which is why the death certificate was not yet released.
