Police cite difficulty generating DNA profile from Taal Lake bones

Police forensic experts are facing the gargantuan task of building a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profile from the human bones collected at Taal Lake in Batangas.

- BY AARON RECUENCO

Police Lt. Col. Edmar de la Torre, officer-in-charge of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Forensics Group DNA Laboratory Division, said they were able to sort out six pieces of human bones from the 91 bone samples taken from the Taal Lake.

"We are facing challenges in generating DNA samples or profiles because they have been submerged for a long time. If the samples were submerged for that long time, it would be difficult to generate a DNA profile," said De la Torre in a television interview.

He was referring to the claims of a witness that the cadavers were dumped into Taal Lake four years ago.

Another challenge, De la Torre said, is that the remains were submerged under water with sulfur content.