Naga developing a new cemetery

CEBU, Philippines - In Naga City, in the south part of Cebu, a 5,000-square-meter lot in barangays West Poblacion and Naalad is being developed into a public cemetery, which will offer affordable services to the city’s poor residents.

The city has an existing cemetery but Naga City Mayor Valdemar Chiong said it is already full to capacity; hence, putting up a new one is necessary. He describes the future cemetery as “modern” and “affordable.”

Each compartment only costs P500, probably the cheapest in the province, according to Chiong. He said the Nagahanons with dead relatives should be not burdened further with having to pay for a costly space at the burial ground.

At least 3,000 compartments are expected to be built within the 5,000-square-meter public property, “more than enough” for the city’s 400 deaths each year as per estimate of the local registrar’s office, said the mayor.

Every five years, those in the burial compartments will then be moved to the bone chambers, which will also be constructed later on, he said.

If there are no epidemics, meaning, no mass deaths, in five years’ time, only around 2,000 of these compartments will be occupied, Chiong said.

The new cemetery will however not have the traditional cross at the center, as a courtesy to other constituents who are non-Catholics.

Meantime, while the construction of the compartments at the new cemetery is on going, the city government is also planning on extending its reclamation project, where the new public market will rise.

Presently, the six-hectare reclaimed area houses the new city hall, the public plaza, the tennis and badminton courts, and the commercial kiosks.

Chiong said they are now mulling on extending the reclamation to the right part, till it reaches the old fish port. That is another eight hectares, and is estimated to cost around P40 million to P50 million, he said.

But if they would again make use of the coal ash of Salcon Power Corp. (SPC) as filling material, the city would save millions, said Chiong.

Chiong said that when they reclaimed the property where the new city hall and other facilities are standing now, it was projected to cost P30 million, but with SPC’s tons of coal ash, which they dumped in the area before dumping the limestone, they were able to finish it with only P12 million in actual cost.

He said limestone costs P300,000 per cubic square meter, and the entire project will need thousands of cubic square meters for it.

The old reclamation area used up 80,000 cubic square meters of coal ash, he said.

But it seems that SPC does not like the idea, as the city has asked it to put an embankment first before dumping its coal residue, said Chiong.

SPC has tons of coal ash in its compound in Naga, already filling up its ash pond, said Chiong, adding that it has reportedly started dumping the excess at the back part of the property.

Hence, the city had offered to have the coal ash placed in the proposed reclamation area, granting that SPC would construct an embankment first to prevent the ash from getting to the seawater.

But Chiong clarified that similar to what they did on the main project, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will be consulted first to find out if SPC’s coal ash is safe as filling material. (THE FREEMAN)