Treasure hunters scour barangay Lorega cemetery

CEBU, Philippines - Residents of Lorega San Miguel yesterday were alarmed over reports of alleged armed men digging for 12 pieces of gold bars at their cemetery.

A certain “Gaga” Balang, a resident of the Lorega for over 40 years said she saw a group of men on Sunday surveying the cemetery using high-tech computerized equipment.

However, because the residents noticed nothing suspicious on the men aside from the equipment, they disregarded the “visitors.”

However, later that night, Balang saw men conducting what looked like a “ritual” prior to the digging.

She saw men sticking incense near the site before they started digging. Balang described that the men appeared to be “asking permission from the dead.”

Balang said if the incense will totally burn that will mean the dead allows their digging, and if it will not burn completely, they can not continue.

The incense reportedly totally burned and on Sunday night, the digging allegedly started.

The men dug throughout yesterday morning where a passing police man allegedly saw and reported the digging to the Lorega San Miguel Barangay Hall.

At around 10 a.m. yesterday, a team composing of barangay tanods and police men went to the site where the allegedly digging was reported. 

Barangay captain, Fritz Herera who joined the inspection and saw two men, who they identified as certain “Noel” and Rammy Ahang.

The men left a hole where two men can snugly fit with a depth of 12 meters located at the back of the cemetery big-cross. The hole was located right beside an empty tomb which residents believed to have contained gold.

In order to reach the supposed buried “gold bars,” the men should have allegedly dug 16 feet deep but they failed to do so because they were caught.

Herera however, told The FREEMAN that talks of hidden treasures in the cemetery are not true, adding they have similar cases in the past regarding alleged “treasure hunters.”

He even clarified that the two men who were caught at the site were not armed when they arrived.

The barangay was even confused according to Herera when they received reports that the men were digging for another grave which is no longer permitted in the cemetery.

Herera also clarified that the men who were alleged to have been digging for gold bars were simply, according to him, “were only there as visitors.”

 The barangay chief has instructed his barangay officials to cover the wide hole which might cause danger residents close to the site.

Lorega cemetery has been home not only for the dead but also for living as early as 1970s. In fact, there are improvised houses built throughout the cemetery that are homes to about 400 families. The 75-year-old cemetery was established in 1936 before the Second World War. Prior to that, it was already the graveyard of the oldest cadaver buried in 1912.

The Lorega San Miguel Public Cemetery was also where Don Vicente Sotto and General Arcadio Maxilom were first buried before there remains were exhumed and transferred.    - (THE FREEMAN)