CEBU, Philippines - Deep into the nooks of a Catholic cemetery in Barangay Humay-humay, Lapu-Lapu City, wild cadena de amor, cogon grass and vines grow around tombs in overwhelming abundance.
But in this jungle cradled among the dead, Marites Villanoac finds a job that helps her feed a family.
Villanoac had been to industrial work before, working as a trimmer of cloth inside a firm in Mactan Export Processing Zone, but it didn’t take long before she resigned, owing to her desire to find a job in which she can work out at the same time.
“Nagsugod ko eight years old, nagtabang-tabang sa akong maguwang,” she tells The FREEMAN. At 45, Villanoac now considers being a tomb cleaner her longest-running occupation to date.
What’s even better, she says, is she gets to do the job according to her terms and schedule, which is usually between 8 to 9 in the morning and 3 to 4 in the afternoon.
‘Noble job’
In one month, she earns more or less P3,000 out of cleaning and looking after her client tombs. Yesterday, however, as in the past Halloween seasons, the demand has been enormous.
Villanoac had 26 graves to clean, weed out and paint, and for every grave she tidies up, she gets P200.
The returns are not that bad for Villanoac, especially upon the thought that while three of her children are already married, she and her tricycle driving husband still have five more children to feed and send to school.
Villanoac admits there’s a lot of challenge in raising eight kids but her work as a tomb cleaner is at least “keeping them alive,” helping both ends meet for their family.
“Mag-agwanta mi, budget-budget lang gud. Usahay moapil og tabang among mga anak sa pagpanglimpyo og nitso,” she shares.
Reminiscing the old days, she said broomsticks, pail of water, damp cloth and cleaning brush were a familiar artillery when All Saints’ and Souls’ Days drew near.
“Dala na pud laag. Usahay, mo-absent whole day sa klase kay manglimpyo og lubnganan,” she recalls.
Cleaning tombs is a noble work — that’s something Villanoac would love to instill in her children.
Tomb stories
Over the years of servicing graves, she has come to know the lives of those lying in her client tombs even before they passed on. She says each grave tells a unique story.
Villanoac says some of her clients would vent their grief to her after the loss of their loved ones. “Mingawon man gud na sila, motambag ra sad ko kay mao man ang angay buhaton.”
Pointing to a grave tiled in blue and locked up in white grills, she goes to say, “Kani siya kay security guard ni unya gi-atake (sa kasing-kasing). Ang asawa ani wala gyud kadawat sa iyahang kamatayon.”
Walking down further, she points to another. “Kini siya kay buotan kaayo ni siya nga tiguwang, ingon sa iyahang mga anak. Bisan sa iyahang edad kay mohatag gihapon siya og tabang sa iyahang mga paryente,” Villanoac says. The grave sits on a white tiled floor with a statue of Jesus perched on it.
She also identifies the unattended grave of the twin babies, whose parents have gone out of the country.
Most of her clients come from well-off families who treat her with kindness. With the right attitude and patience in cleaning graves, Villanoac says she receives help from the families who need her grave-cleaning skills.
“Kung magkalisod mi sa akong pamilya, pwede ra man mi makahangyo og advance nga bayad. Mohatag ra pud among amo,” she says, but adding that they also have had a bad experience with a politician’s family that has treated them rudely.
But overall, there is personal grace in cleaning the graves, according to Villanoac.
“Motuo ra ba gyud ko nga tabangan ka sa mga kalag, naa gyud ka’y grasya madawat gikan sa ila,” she concludes. (FREEMAN)