Dad calls for investigation on public cemetery ‘fees’

CITY Councilor Teodulfo "Bong" Lao seeks to investigate the alleged P5,000 fee as a requirement for the burial at the City Memorial Public Cemetery in Bolonsori, barangay Camaman-an.

Lao said he learned complaints that the P5,000 fee is collected by a private person, to pay for the lot, digging and concreting of the tomb at the public cemetery.

He said residents are not allowed to buy the materials on their own, except from the supposed association at the cemetery.

"I was amazed how a public cemetery owned by the city government can spouse an internal policy and arbitrarily collect the P5,000 at their own volition. Tolerating this kind of practice, in the absence of an ordinance," he said.

"How about those who are the poorest and cannot afford this fee? Where will they bury their loved ones," Lao said.

Edwin Dael, chief of the City Public Services Office (CPSO), the office handling the public cemetery said, the fees are not implemented by the City Government but by residents in the area posing as private contractors.

Dael said the only fee collected by the city is

only P20, and not P5,000. Dael however said like a public market, it has been the practice of residents in the cemetery to collect fees and offer services, such as digging and construction of the tombs.

Dael also clarified that he has no knowledge of prohibiting families from constructing their own tomb, saying that this

practice is allowed.

The growing economic activity at the cemetery has been a headache for the city, Dael said, this is why they are mobilizing the residents to form a cooperative.

The cooperative will help set and regulate prices and guidelines since they will be tasked to handle the economic side of the cemetery, but it will remain under the supervision and management of the city government, Dael said.

He added that this will still be a long process since they will still need to get approval from the mayor and City Council.

“Forming the cooperative will enable us to stop overpricing, and maybe it will become an income generating cemetery,” he said.

The issue will be investigated by the committee on economic enterprise.