PLM grad’s rob-slay: Funeral parlor probed for disrespecting body

MANILA, Philippines - A funeral parlor is under investigation for allegedly disrespecting the body of a graduate of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila who was killed in a jeepney robbery last March 6, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim said yesterday.

Lim, who graced a fun run at the Quirino Grandstand, said he has ordered some employees of Universal Funeral Homes in Sta. Cruz, Manila investigated.

“Why did they have to strip the girl naked and not bother to cover her body?” he said.

The victim, Kristine Dawn Concepcion, 20, was shot at pointblank range during a jeepney robbery when she reportedly refused to give her bag to the robber. She graduated cum laude with a degree in tourism and worked for a hotel in Makati City.

A city hall insider said Concepcion’s relatives told Lim that when they were accompanied by police officers to identify her body at the funeral parlor, they were surprised and shocked to see her body without any cloth covering her.

Lim said investigators still have to determine whether the violation would merit a warning or the closure of the funeral parlor.  “They have to monitor or discipline what their (male employees) are doing… They should give due respect to the dead,” he said. 

Taking to task

He also ordered a Manila Police District (MPD) police officer investigated for allegedly passing on the task of interviewing witnesses to Concepcion’s family.

“I got mad when I heard about it. I said why should the victim’s parents contact the driver or the other witnesses, meaning the two other jeepney passengers. It should be the investigator from the homicide division (who should do the questioning). This will be a thorough investigation,” Lim said.

MPD homicide section head Chief Inspector Steve Casimiro, however, denied the allegation.

He said Concepcion’s father, Jessie, “was asking the witnesses because he wanted to know firsthand what transpired. I cannot tell them not to talk to the witnesses. It is their right.”

Casimiro defended his investigators, noting that they started from scratch. “From initially not knowing any suspects, now they have a face and a name – a sign that they are really doing their job,” he said.

Progress

MPD deputy director for operations Senior Superintendent Ronald Estilles yesterday tried to convince the family of suspect Melvin Balajadia to ask him to surrender if he is not guilty of killing Concepcion.

Estilles – who met with Balajadia’s older sister, Maribeth, and his father, Albino – said Balajadia is safer in jail and would have a chance to prove his innocence in court.

Maribeth said they have tried but failed to contact her brother.

Balajadia, an alleged member of the Sigue-Sigue Sputnik crime gang, is armed and dangerous, Estilles said.

Casimiro said they have recovered the bags and other belongings stolen during the jeepney robbery at a vacant lot in the Manila North Cemetery.

He said they have intelligence reports that Balajadia and an accomplice divided the loot, giving credence to their initial theory that the suspect was not alone when he reportedly committed the crime.

Casimiro said they are verifying reports that another man in a tricycle followed the jeepney and picked up Balajadia after the heist.