New building to rise at North Cemetery

MANILA, Philippines — The city government of Manila is set to construct a multi-purpose building near the Manila North Cemetery that will address the need for more space for wakes for residents.

The new building will have five rooms where indigent residents of Manila can hold wakes for their dead loved ones for free, according to Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan.

During the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday, she said she hoped the new multi-purpose building – which would also house a crematorium and columbarium – would solve the issue of lack of space for wakes in Manila, which are usually done on sidewalks.

The existing crematorium at one of the country’s largest cemeteries – which Lacuna-Pangan said is currently closed because it has been emitting black smoke that could be harmful to the environment and public health – would also be replaced this April, she announced.

Vice Mayor Yul Servo-Nieto said the city government saw the need to build infrastructure that would ensure that the final rites for the dead in the city would be decent.