Funeral parlor stockpiles 100 bodies

MANILA, Philippines – At least 100 unclaimed bodies, in various stages of decomposition, greeted health officials in Quezon City when they raided a funeral parlor yesterday.

Flies, roaches and rats crawled over the corpses at Henry Funeral Homes in Barangay Paang Bundok, La Loma.

The city health department staged the raid after receiving numerous complaints about a foul odor emanating from the funeral parlor, which continued operating even after the city government ordered it shut down last Sept. 23.

Funeral parlor personnel could not explain why they kept accepting bodies.

The corpses, some of which were no more than bones, filled at least 96 cadaver bags. They are set to be buried in the next 48 hours, said city health officer Dr. Verdades Linga.

The funeral parlor continued to accept unidentified bodies despite the cease and desist order issued by the city government and Linga said the stench has spread throughout the neighborhood, causing some residents to fall ill.

The city government has made preparations, through civil registrar Ramon Matabang, for a mass burial at the Bagbag Public Cemetery.

Matabang said they are still ironing out kinks in the arrangement as the funeral parlor has made burial plans with the Manila North Cemetery.

He said they are looking into reports that Henry Funeral Homes had been operating without a business permit for the last three years.

The local government could file appropriate charges against the owner of the funeral parlor, Matabang added.

City officials are verifying whether the bodies were of drug suspects killed in the government’s war on drugs, according to an ABS-CBN report.

The city health department has issued cease and desist orders against eight other funeral homes for various violations of the sanitary code.

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