Visitors down in M’lang cemetery due to quakes

MLANG, North Cotabato -- Frequent aftershocks of three major quakes that rocked North Cotabato recently forced grave visitors not to stay long at the public cemetery here on Saturday during the observance of All Souls’ Day.

Compared to last year, the number of people who visited the graves of their loved ones has been reduced tremendously, flower vendor Remedios Padios, 45, said.

“Malaki ang ibinawas ng mga bumibista sa libingan kumpara last year (As compared to last year, the number of visitors to cemeteries this year has drastically declined),” Padios said, gesturing she still has plenty of undisposed flowers for the dead.

Candle vendor Bonifacio Pandoy, 45, noted that his sales dropped this year unlike in 2018. “Bumaba ang benta ko ng kalahati kumpara noong isang taon (My sales are down by half compared to last year), indicating that he only earned PHP1,500 compared to last year’s candle sales of PHP3,000.

Pandoy’s observation was shared by other vendors, tricycle drivers and members of the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) who expressed their views on the current situation. “Visitors are afraid a major quake might strike while they are here at the cemetery,” tricycle driver Celestino Maglasa said in the vernacular, adding that he himself was scared after being awakened by the magnitude 4.8 aftershock that hit Tulunan, North Cotabato before dawn Saturday.

Hernand Dapudong, the M’lang cemetery administrator, also observed that only a few people came over this year compared to last year, adding that about 15,000 people visit the cemetery annually this time of the year.

“This year’s All Souls’ Day though is much solemn compared to last year due to cemetery visitors that came in trickles,” he said in the Visayan dialect.

Farmer Tina Paderno said she was afraid to stay beside the grave of her husband in an apartment-type burial site.

Her husband’s grave was at the top of the eightlevel apartment type burial site inside the M’lang municipal cemetery. “He will surely understand if we don’t stay longer beside his tomb on All Souls’ Day,” Paderno said.

M’lang is one of the towns affected by three major earthquakes on October 16, 29 and 31, where the epicenter was traced to Tulunan, its adjacent town.

Many homes and government structures were damaged.

But Makilala, also a neighboring town, was the hardest hit with more than 3,000 families being evacuated by the municipal government due to the series of aftershocks and false reports about Mt. Apo getting active and might explode any moment.

The particular rumor about Mt. Apo’s impending eruption spread like wildfire, triggering mass evacuation among people from at least four landslide-hit villages of Makilala -- barangays Luayon, Buenavida, Malasila, and Bato, situated at the foot of the dormant volcano.

Provincial board member Jumar Cerebo, speaking for North Cotabato’s provincial crisis management team, told reporters that the evacuation was a preventive measure. He assured displaced families of ample food and water supply while staying at the evacuation site in Barangay Concepcion here.