Mother finds out they buried wrong Princess victim

MANILA, Philippines - A woman whose son was one of the passengers of the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars will finally get to grieve over him two years after she and her relatives buried what they thought had been his remains.

Andrea Diaz said they never had the chance to see the body in 2008 when a government task force turned it over to them.

“I am sad but at least now I know it is really my son we’re burying this time,” Andrea told reporters yesterday at the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) headquarters in Quezon City.

She said they would hold a wake for a few nights before burying the body of her son, Mark, on Thursday. Mark was with a friend on their way to Cebu when the ill-fated ship sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon.

The PAO, through a court order, went back to the sunken vessel last May in hopes of identifying other victims of the June 21, 2008 tragedy.

PAO chief Persida Rueda Acosta said one of the remains they found was of a man whose pants still carried an ID card and an ATM card bearing the name Mark Diaz.

The belongings, including a wallet, were in a small plastic bag placed inside the man’s back pocket, keeping them intact despite being submerged for two years, said PAO forensic expert Dr. Erwin Erfe.

When the agency conducted a forensic examination of the remains, the results matched Mark’s records. He was 5’7” in height, 23 years old and had dentures exactly where Mark had his.

The PAO team exhumed the body the Diaz family buried in Cainta and found the man was in his early 40s to late 50s, more than six feet in height and a smoker, unlike Mark.

At the moment, the agency has yet to find the relatives of the remains of the man who was believed to be Mark.

The charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and serious physical injuries filed by the families of the victims against Sulpicio Lines are still pending in court.