MODERNIZATION of the public cemetery is being pushed.
Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the public cemetery has to be refurbished for the good of all.
Magalong recognized the issue as both sentimental and heritage issue which he plans to undertake with all affected families.
The chief executive said the plan needs social preparation and a constant engagement with the public to be able to get through the planned rehabilitation.
Magalong added a company has signified its intent and submitted a third party design to the modernization of the cemetery and turn it into a park with condo type niches to accommodate more.
The City Environment and Parks Management office (Cepmo) previously admitted the city’s 9-hectare public cemetery along Naguilian road is congested.
CEPO claimed that aside from encouraging the relatives of dead persons to use the existing condo-tombs for reposting the remains of their love ones, the city government is now mandating them to sign waivers that the rental of the lot where their love ones will be buried will only be for five years.
The city government is also working out the development of the access road leading to the proposed expansion site of the public cemetery on a 4,000-square meter property purchased by the city over two decades ago to prevent the further congestion inside the existing cemetery.
Based on the data retrieved by the CEPMO from relevant offices of the city government, there are more or less 11,000 dead that are buried in the public cemetery since year 2000 with an average of four dead being buried in the cemetery every month and still counting.
There is a 2,000 square meters in the existing public cemetery that can still accommodate burials while only 25% of the existing condo-tombs have been used up, there is still available limited space in the city’s public cemetery.