Preserving our heritage cemeteries
Since pre-colonial times, Filipinos already have various forms of burial practices, such as the hanging coffins of Sagada, Mountain Province, the anthropomorphic jars found in Maitum, South Cotabato, or the wooden coffins discovered in the cliffside caves of Banton, Romblon. Even in those early times, Filipinos valued the heritage that death creates.
Three centuries of Spanish colonialism further enriched this heritage. With Filipinos learning to bury and honor their dead in cemeteries, each town and city in the country began to establish their respective
camposantos. These cemeteries had their unique architectural style giving each place their respective character. The beauty of these cemeteries says a lot about Filipino artistry and ingenuity — it is expressed not just for the living but for the dead as well.
The counTry’s only underground cemeTery
One of the finest examples of heritage cemeteries in the country is the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery in Nagcarlan, Laguna. Spanish curate Fr. Vicente Velloc supervised the construction of the cemetery in 1845. The cemetery was established outside of the town center, on the foot of Mount Cristobal. Around 240 people have been buried in the cemetery, the oldest being in 1886 and the latest being in 1982.
Unlike other cemeteries built during the Spanish era, the Nagcarlan cemetery has two levels: The surface niches is where deceased members of the town are buried, while an underground crypt serves as the resting place of friars and prominent members of Nagcarlan society. It is the only underground cemetery in the country.
The cemetery also played an important role during the 1896 Philippine Revolution. Local leaders of the Katipunan revolutionary society used the underground crypt as a secret meeting place. It also served as a hideout for Filipino revolutionaries during the Filipino-American War and for guerrillas during World War II.
Today, the cemetery no longer serves its purpose and is now under the supervision and maintenance of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) after it was declared a National Historical Landmark in 1973. Aside from the cemetery, chapel and underground crypt, the NHCP also established a museum in the chapel to showcase the history of the place and the rare artifacts found in it.
desecraTed heriTage
While the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery is fortunate to have been preserved by the government, other heritage cemeteries in the country aren’t so fortunate. Various elements such as weather, natural calamities, and human activities have threatened to bury these cemeteries into oblivion.
One such cemetery is the San Joaquin Camposanto in San Joaquin, Iloilo. Built in 1892, the cemetery features an entrance arch and chapel built in the baroque style and among the best preserved Spanish-era cemetery in the province. But the pristine condition that the
camposanto was in for more than a century was disturbed in 2015 after it was revealed that treasure hunters have dug a 60-foot deep pit inside the chapel to look for buried treasure — threatening the structural integrity of the chapel.
The excavation even had the approval of the parish priest that oversees the cemetery. The priest has since taken an indefinite leave of absence from the parish, while the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) has already filled the pit to restore its structural integrity.
In the same year, a road-widening project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) also threatened to affect a portion of the cemetery’s perimeter fence made. Fortunately, a written appeal from local townsfolk spared the cemetery from the agency’s roadwork.
To protect the site from further human intrusions that could damage its historic structure, the NMP installed a marker indicating the cemetery’s designation as a National Cultural Treasure. The National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) is also developing a conservation management plan to further protect and preserve the camposanto.
saving cemeTeries Through social media
Aside from the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery and the San Joaquin Campo Santo, there are hundreds of heritage cemeteries across the country that are currently neglected and in need of restoration so that future generation may appreciate and learn
our country’s history and culture from it.
But with hundreds of heritage cemeteries, some of which might not even be known to heritage conservationists, how can ordinary Filipino be made aware of the need to preserve these artifacts of Philippine culture and history?
One group is using social media to put heritage cemeteries on the spotlight, enabling government agencies and heritage conservation groups to take action to protect and preserve them.
In 2014, Max Tuason and three other friends decided to start the Facebook page called Sementeryo: Heritage Cemeteries of the Philippines (www.facebook.com/sementeryo.ph). It’s the first-ever Facebook page dedicated to heritage cemeteries in the country, particularly those that are in dire neglect or are gravely endangered due to various natural and man-made threats. Their goal is to create awareness and inspire action for the preservation of heritage cemeteries.
“More than being the resting place of the dead, our old cemeteries — known variously as sementeryo, camposanto, libingan,
himlayan, pantyon, patyo, and simboryo, among others — are filled with historical and cultural treasures. These are also tremendous repositories showcasing the lineage of Filipino families. Unlike wellknown heritage sites such as ancestral houses and Spanish-era churches, our old cemeteries suffer from the results of ignorance, apathy, and indifference. Add to this the negative association of these places as spooky or haunted,” Tuason says in conversation with The Philippine STAR via their Facebook page.
Since the Facebook page went online, Tuason and his fellow page administrators have already featured over 100 heritage cemeteries and related sites/structures. These include burial sites that have been known for the first time or have been forgotten for decades, mostly dating from the pre-colonial, Spanish period, American period and the post-colonial period.
The Facebook page features a comprehensive collection of photos, mostly crowd sourced from fans of the page or taken by the administrators themselves. Photos include not just of the cemeteries itself but also portals, gates, chapels, arches, walls, fences, gravesites, tombs, mausoleums, tombstones, epitaphs, sculptural pieces, markers and other forms of cemetery art and architecture.
Tuason and his friends continue to accept photo submissions from page followers, hence enriching their vast collection of photos. They organize weekly CamposanTours — a pun on the word
camposanto — that encourages people to visit their local heritage cemeteries, take photos, and submit them to the page.
“We also rely on contributions from heritage enthusiasts. There are no gatherings, no meetups, not even among the page administrators. Everything is a collaborative online effort,” Tuason explains.
According to Tuason, some of the sites featured on the page have already received significant attention from concerned agencies and institutions leading to their preservation and maintenance.
“For NHCP, our feature on the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery was displayed in their museum. We also noticed that some local government units and private groups initiated action in some places after they were featured. For instance, efforts were made to preserve the brick cemetery gate in San Isidro, Nueva Ecija after we posted stories about it. So in a way we’re helping too, through the power of social media,” Tuason says.
Today, as the country celebrates All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, Tuason and the rest of the people behind Sementeryo:
Heritage Cemeteries of the Philippines invite Filipinos to snap and share the best photos of our country’s heritage cemeteries so that these can be preserved and protected.
Indeed, the way we treat and honor our dead tells a lot about us as a civilization as much as the way we treat the living. The dead may not come to life again but by preserving our heritage cemeteries, we could at least breathe new life to their final resting places.