City leasing space for bones from Lorega cemetery

CEBU, Philippines -  The Cebu City Council has already authorized Mayor Michael Rama to enter into an agreement with Church officials for the 50-year lease of bone chambers inside the Carreta cemetery where the 400 human remains dug up from the old Lorega cemetery will be kept.

The draft agreement showed that the city will pay P1 million to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cebu after the signing of the Contract of Usufructuary.  The agreement is to be signed by the mayor and Bishop Julito Cortes.

There were about 400 human remains exhumed from the old Lorega-San Miguel Cemetery to allow the construction of the first medium-rise condominium right inside the cemetery lot that was in operation since 1902.

The condominium project in that area is for the underprivileged families whose houses in danger areas were demolished by the city, as well as former squatters who used to live inside the cemetery.

Councilor Alvin Dizon, chairman of the City Council’s committee on housing, said the city needs to lease portions of the cemetery, which is managed by the Sto. Rosario Parish Church, for the remains exhumed from the Lorega cemetery.

It was earlier agreed that the city will construct a bone chamber at the old Lorega cemetery, but the law prohibits such structures within 25 meters of the condominium project.

The Sanitation Code of the Philippines provides that any burial ground, including bone chambers, should be at least 25 meters away from any residential areas.

The human remains dug up from their tombs are now inside sacks still being kept at a structure in the Lorega lot.   (FREEMAN)