Go signal for Talisay crematorium

CEBU, Philippines - Nine Talisay City Council members approved a two-page report from the committee on public works and infrastructure endorsing the application to put up a crematorium inside a private cemetery in Barangay Dumlog.

However, Councilors Valeriano Ylanan and Dennis Basillote thumbed down the endorsement, manifesting environment and health issues, among others.

The legislators who voted for the affirmative were Councilors Socrates Fernandez, Antonio Bacaltos, Doroteo Emit, Aldin Diaz, Danilo Caballero, Edward Alesna, Richard Francis Aznar, Raul Cabañero and Eduardo Gullas III.

The item was jointly signed by four members of the committee namely Fernandez as chairman of the public works and infrastructure; Emit; Bacaltos and Gullas.

Ylanan did not sign the report saying he would go for traditional burial.

Inspected

Fernandez said his committee already conducted an inspection and found that various permits have already been secured by the operating firm. The permits include development permit, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board Permit, barangay clearance, sketch plan and an environmental permit among those needed for the construction.

"We consulted the residents occupying the area and they all manifested no objection on the application," Fernandez said in his report.

Fernandez also said the owner promised to establish road right of way for the safety and passage of the residents, as well as for the area's drainage.

Mob against it?

Meanwhile, although he approved the committee report, Diaz pointed out that the report should have included an attachment of petitioners who are against the crematorium's establishment.

Diaz, a former barangay councilman in Dumlog and owns a funeral, said the persons referred Fernandez's report were people who are against the crematorium.

He said in 2012, there were petitioners who were against the crematorium.

Likewise, the barangay council also reportedly opposed the construction, which was the basis of Basillote's objection.

As the 2013 barangay elections ushered a new set of barangay officials, it has also led to the passing and approval of the plan.

 "In 2012, the people of Dumlog were against the crematorium. Will the resolution of the barangay endorsing the crematorium overwhelm the voice of the people who were against the project? Unsa man diay ang importante nga sa public hearing against man ang mga tawo. Useless diay ang public hearing?" Basillote said.

But Fernandez cut Basillote short by saying the voice of the barangay council tantamount to the voice of the people.

"The public hearing was in 2012 but there was a change of people kay naay bag-ong public hearing gihimo niadtong April 2014 nga nagtugot sa maong project," Fernandez quipped.

Development

It has been close to two years since Golden Eye Inc. applied for operation of Talisay Sanctuarium Memorial Park but the application's approval had been deferred because of its proposed location. According to reports, it will be built near a school and residential area.

But Sherwin Velasco, brother of the developer, said the opposition has no basis because the cemetery is 50 kilometers away from residential area.

Velasco said the developer had already acquired a certificate of non-coverage, which negates the need for the issuance of an environmental compliance certificate.

Golden Eye is reportedly owned by a certain Dr. Andrew Quijano. It will be situated outside the public cemetery in between Barangays Poblacion and Dumlog.

Quijano would develop the two-hectare property into a cemetery housing the crematorium.

Cremation is the act of reducing a corpse by burning. Cremation can be an alternative funeral rite to the burial of a body in a grave.

Contrary to popular belief, the remains are not ashes but rather bone fragments which are then crushed in a device called cremulator.  (FREEMAN)