PNP never got DNA profile of cadaver suspected as Dulmatin’s

By Ronron
March 25, 2008

The Philippine National Police (PNP) admitted Tuesday that it never got a DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) profile from the cadaver exhumed in Tawi-tawi last January 31, which was suspected to be that of Dulmatin’s.

Chief Supt. Arturo Cacdac, Director of the PNP Crime Laboratory, said this means they never got to proceed to confirm whether or not the body was really that of the Indonesian bomber who is an alleged member of the Jemaah Islamiyah.

“We failed to extract DNA profile from the tissue samples we took from the cadaver because it was already in an advanced state of decomposition,” Cacdac told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview yesterday.

He said his office in Camp Crame, Quezon City attempted to generate DNA profile of the cadaver using their nuclear machine, but to no avail.

“It could be that the quality of the samples are already very poor so the cells are already dead, or our machine could no longer really find any profile,” he explained in Filipino.

While Cacdac opted not to comment on whether or not tissue samples from the same cadaver were also sent to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for the same examination, he said it is possible the US may generate DNA profile because its FBI has the more modern mytocondrial machine.

He disclosed that the AFP is only using the same nuclear machine that the PNP Crime Laboratory has.

Because of the absence of the DNA profile of the cadaver, Cacdac said they were not able to make a comparison with the available DNA profile of Dulmatin’s children.

“We need to get a DNA profile from that cadaver for us to compare and determine if that is really the remains of Dulmatin. But since we did not generate anything, so we were not able to compare and do a testing,” he said.

Cacdac refused to comment when told that no less than PNP chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. disclosed that tissue samples were already taken to the US FBI for DNA analysis purposes.

Razon and his counterpart with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., had earlier expected that a result of the DNA test on the cadaver will be out in a month’s time as in the case of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani in late 2006 until early 2007.

Cacdac said he could not comment on whether or not tissue samples were taken to the US and Australia because it is beyond his level. “That’s up to the higher level to disclose that, or to the respective countries,” he said.

Asked about the same matter in a news conference yesterday morning at Camp Crame, Anti-Terrorism Council spokesman Ricardo Blancaflor just said that the DNA testing is still ongoing.

“We still don’t have the official report... I’m not sure if there is a delay because in the Janjalani case, it was almost 90 days,” said Blancaflor, who is also an Undersecretary of the Justice Department.

He recounted that even the DNA tests conducted on the victims of the Superferry bombing in 2004 lasted for two to three months to get results.

Unlike Cacdac, Blancaflor believes that DNA profiles can still be generated from very decomposed remains.

“This is a three-country joint operation… That’s (DNA testing) very exhaustive because we can’t afford to make a mistake… If it’s a month now, I don’t think it’s a delay because there are many agencies involved here,” said Blancaflor.

The US government has offered $10 million reward money for the neutralization of Dulmatin.

Dulmatin is believed to be a key suspect in the bombings in Bali, Indonesia a few years back that claimed the lives of over a hundred people, mostly tourists.

Philippine authorities say he arrived in the country in 2003, together with fellow bomber and Jemaah Islamiyah member, Umar Patek./DMS