Cost of war

The family celebrates All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in two public cemeteries, the one in Carreta and the other in Pardo. Carreta is where my father, my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law are buried. The relatives of my wife are buried in Pardo (her father and mother, the baby of her sister and the relatives of her mother). We light candles on the niches in Carreta and stay longer in the mausoleum in Pardo together with the living relatives of my wife.

The annual ritual also provides me with a glimpse of the changes in the two cemeteries. Carreta has undergone some face-lifting the past few years with the construction of major structures that increased its capacity to host graves and niches for a growing populace. The pile of niches has gone higher so that bamboo ladders are needed for one to be able to light candles on the upper parts.

I don’t know what the plans of the Catholic Church are for the Carreta cemetery but it has become obvious that it is bursting at the seams. I think this is also the situation in the other cemeteries like the one in Barangay Calamba and even the one in Pardo. New structures have also been built at the Pardo cemetery but I could not say anything much about it because we usually spend time in the rows of private mausoleums in the cemetery’s upper portion.

All of the public cemeteries in the city were built in more innocent times when the metropolis hadn’t come into being yet. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church has not been quick to adjust to the city’s growth. There are adjustments, true, but these are band-aid responses, not a thoroughgoing one.

It’s sad that most of our public cemeteries have fallen into neglect even if these are the focus of the annual All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day celebrations

I would like to see the day when our public cemeteries, which are handled by the Catholic Church, would become presentable. I think it is a matter of planning and the determination to implement the plan. There are thousands of Catholic architects and engineers out there who can advice the Catholic Church hierarchy on how to go about it. And the church does have the resources for a paradigm shift.

It’s sad that most of our public cemeteries have fallen into neglect even if these are the focus of the annual All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day celebrations. Cemetery administrators impose all kinds of fees for the use of these cemeteries yet these have not been used to improve the look and the services. For example, the most lucrative during these celebrations are the lighting fees.

In the years that we have been spending time at the Pardo cemetery during All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, we have also witnessed how families that own the neighboring mausoleums do their thing. In one mausoleum, the peak of the celebration is the feasting. In another, two battling factions of relatives jostle each other for control of the mausoleum for the duration of the celebration.

When it rained prior to last year’s All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day celebration, mud covered the tomb in one mausoleum. This year, the structure has been remodeled and built higher. This only means that the relatives of those buried are no longer allowing the facility to fall into neglect.

Cemeteries do tell stories and reflect the characters of the living.

Lately maong nasuko gyud ko kay naay nangapriso, giadto niya sa estasyon, gikasab-an niya ang police. PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE, ON WHY HE GOT ANGRY AT CEBU CITY MAYOR TOMAS OSMENA