Buried remains set for transfer

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Government will be transferring all remains from the old Lorega-San Miguel cemetery to the Carreta cemetery instead of constructing a bone chamber on-site.

Part of the old Lorega Cemetery has been converted into a housing site.

The city government initially planned to construct a bone chamber where the remains from the demolished tombs are supposed to be placed, but they are more inclined to transfer the cadavers to another cemetery for various security issues.

The draft of the Memorandum of Agreement with the Archdiocese of Cebu is being prepared for the portion of the cemetery that will be used as a bone chamber.

The Carreta Cemetery is under the maintenance and operation of Sto. Rosario Parish. The city government and Sto. Rosario Parish initially agreed to sign a usufruct agreement for a period of 50 years.

The city government will be paying P8,000 per unit which has the capacity to house eight cadavers.

The city government is expected to spend over P1 million for all the remains to be transferred.

So far, some 400 remains have been evacuated and temporarily housed in a temporary bone chamber inside the site.

Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor Chief and lawyer Collin Rosell said that if they will construct a bone chamber on-site, it will defeat the purpose of constructing a housing facility.

The city wants to completely convert the old cemetery to a place for the living.

Rosell said they also want to avoid some health and security issues in the future.

Having the bone chamber on-site, he said, will bring the relatives of the deceased persons to the site during All Saints and Souls Day, which may disturb those who are already occupying the housing units.

Just this year, the first medium-rise socialized housing building has been completed and is now occupied by 60 urban poor beneficiaries who used to live with the dead in that old cemetery.

Rosell said that there will only be a marker constructed on-site for historical purposes so the people will know that the site used to be a cemetery before it was converted into a housing site.  (FREEMAN)