CEBU, Philippines - Mandaue City is now scouting for a lot where it plans to build a new cemetery.
Mayor Jonas Cortes said the new cemetery would have the appearance of a condominium.
A condominium type structure would also rise in the old Mandaue public cemetery to avoid congestion.
Cortes said the city with the owners of a lot but the exact location has not been disclosed yet.
He said a developer had once suggested that a cemetery should allocate an area for a pauper's burial and another area for a cremation facility. Cortes said he will think about it.
He said city Councilor Jefferson Ceniza, the chairman on the committee on social services, continues to look for a property.
During Cortes' first term of office, both Ceniza and former ABC president Joy Ouano urged the mayor to purchase a two-hectare lot where another public cemetery could be built.
A lot in barangay Umapad was available then, as Ceniza had proposed, but this was disapproved by the former city council.
Ceniza said there are lots that can be converted into cemeteries but the problem is the price. He said the city is looking for a cheap one.
The public cemetery is fully occupied and the city helps residents, especially the indigents, facilitate burials in neighboring cemeteries such as the ones in Talamban in Cebu City, Consolacion town, and Lapu-Lapu City.
Based on records, both the Mandaue City cemetery and St. Joseph cemetery lie on a 11,000 square-meter lot in barangay Guizo.
It was learned that about only 200 to 300 square meters have been allotted to the public cemetery.
Josephine Laurente, a caretaker of the public cemetery, said that had the city disallowed Catholics from being buried in the cemetery, it would not be congested now. Only non-Catholics are allowed to be buried in public cemeteries as is true in other places, she said. - THE FREEMAN