City council to discuss system in cemeteries for All Souls Day

Observance of All Souls Day has always made cemeteries jampacked with people, oftentimes until the wee hours of the morning.

Cemeteries in Cebu City are no exemption and councilor Edgardo Labella believes that administrators of both private and public cemeteries in the city should implement a system that would ensure safety among the visiting public.

The city council is set to tackle Labella's concern in its regular session tomorrow particularly on the proper disposal of garbage in the cemeteries, as well as the placement of a paramedics team that would address emergency cases.

Labella believes that the thick concentration of people in the cemeteries during All Souls Day is a serious security concern especially with the recent spate of bombings in certain places in Mindanao. Another common source of friction within the cemetery is when certain tombs are wittingly or unwittingly transformed into pathways. This usually hatches a verbal tussle between the aggrieved parties and those who appear indifferent to burial grounds.

Labella said reports also have it that certain cemeteries in the city have clogged up drainage systems that easily overflow when rain pours, thus, posing a health risk among those visiting the cemetery. This despite a provision of the city's Sanitary Code, which mandates that the administrator, caretaker or person in charge of the cemetery should maintain cleanliness at all times within the premises of the place, including the elimination of stagnant water by way of proper draining or filling up. Aside from these concerns, Labella said that the city police should also implement a security plan in all cemeteries on November 1. - Joeberth M. Ocao/MEEV