Cemetery for all religions to be opened in Kalunasan

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is bent on putting up a cemetery to cater to people from all religions in barangay Kalunasan.

Osmeña made this promise after 19 sectoral leaders of Protestant churches visited him and asked for a space where they could bury their dead.

He said that if this is realized, the cemetery will be the first in the entire country for the Protestants.

“I said sure, I gave to the Muslims, why not have a public cemetery, for those that cannot be buried at the Catholic cemetery,” Osmeña said.

He said there are still 11 hectares near the Don Sergio Osmeña shrine in barangay Kalunasan that can be used for such.

“I am giving them a big portion of that lot in Kalunasan. A cemetery is such a small thing but it’s a real issue to them. In a democracy, the basic principle is majority rules but the minority has also rights,” Osmeña said.

He said even the Muslims can go there, the Iglesia ni Kristo, Seventh Day Adventists, Protestants and all the other religions.

“I am Catholic, but I am also Mayor, and the minority also deserves it, let’s give them their space. You can bury there whoever is not allowed to be buried in the Catholic cemetery, you know no wonder the Muslims hate us, but in there soon, there is no more quarrel, patay na man sila, there is peace and order,” he said.

In 2004, the City Government under Mayor Osmeña donated two hectares for the establishment of the first Muslim cemetery in the country outside Mindanao.

The decision initially was blocked by Guba residents, but the issues were threshed out after the Office on Muslim Affairs-Central Visayas made several outreach activities aimed to strengthen their relations with the people of the place.

Guba residents however preferred the cemetery than having a prison facility built in their area. — Ferliza Contratista/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)