Lim tells squatters to leave cemetery

Manila City Mayor Alfredo Lim said yesterday he is giving illegal settlers who have taken up residence in the Manila North Cemetery within the week to evacuate or else be forcibly evicted. 

Lim earlier said he might implement the order during the first week of August.

“We’re giving them a warning to vacate the tombs which they have been using as their residence,” he said.

Lim issued the directive in response to complaints from families who owned lots in the cemetery.

According to complainants, the illegal settlers reportedly volunteer to carry the coffin from the hearse to the designated gravesite and then demand payment, otherwise they would continue to hound the already grieving family.

“That’s a plain extortion. The family would, of course, also want to carry the coffin as sign of respect and their last farewell,” Lim said.

It is customary for the male members of Filipino families and close friends to bring the coffin to the burial ground. 

Apart from the inconvenience they bring to visitors, Lim said there was a need to rid the 54-hectare graveyard of illegal settlers because there had been reports that it has become a home for criminals, particularly drug users.

“There are reports that they even hold their pot sessions in the cemetery and some of the residents engage in criminal activities,” he said. 

The city government will seek the assistance of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in looking for a relocation site for the displaced families. As for those who would be found with pending criminal records, Lim said they should face the cases lodged against them.  

Just yesterday, Senior Police Officer 3 Amador Jareno Jr., of the Manila City Hall-Special Operations Group (MCH-SOG), recorded another criminal incident within the Manila North Cemetery.  

They arrested Ricardo Castell, 27, and Leandro Suarez, 19, both living inside the cemetery, for allegedly stealing an iron lamppost and bronze letters in a mausoleum for “Jamora Perequit” at 7 a.m. 

Two duty security guards caught the two men but a third suspect, identified only as Palak, escaped.  – Evelyn Macairan, Judith Catabay