Closure of Cemeteries Loot accused of dereliction of duty

CEBU, Philippines - A resident in one of the barangays in Daanbantayan accused Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot of dereliction of duty for implementing only now a law and an ordinance that orders the closure of “illegal” cemeteries.

Estrella Martinez, a lawyer, also claimed Loot was the reason why the Barangay Calape cemetery, one of the cemeteries ordered closed by the mayor recently, remained illegal.

In a letter, Martinez sent to Loot, she asked the mayor to consult her legal advisers.

“If Calape Cemetery is illegal, you are the cause of it because you introduced improvements therein without the approval of the Sangguniang Bayan. This is the same case with the Suan cemetery in Calape,” she said.

Loot had ordered closed what she said were unauthorized cemeteries violating Section 4 of Municipal Ordinance 13-2003, which provides that all applicants that want to operate or establish cemeteries are required to secure the proper development permit and license to sell cemetery lots from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.

Section 5 of the ordinance provides that burials shall be made only inside a duly licensed cemetery.

Presidential Decree 856, which Martinez said was “cited carelessly” by Loot, has been there for 38 years but the mayor did not implement the decree as it was written.

Presidential Decree 856 states “it is unlawful for any person to bury remains in places other than those legally authorized.”

“I am offering my free legal advice before you will drown in a tsunami of anti-graft cases before the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan,” Martinez wrote.

The FREEMAN tried to call Loot yesterday but she could not be contacted.

The lawyer also expressed “shock” on Loot’s reported instruction for the Cebu Electric Cooperative to refrain from connecting power supply to the 25 illegal cemeteries.

The mayor also made mention that too many cemeteries in her town could land Daanbantayan in the Guinness Book of World Records, which also caught the lawyer’s notice.

“For your much needed information, the name Guinness is a registered trademark and should not be used in publicity for, or otherwise in the context of a record attempt without prior written consent of the publisher of the Guinness Book of Records,” she said.

The lawyer also requested the mayor to consult with the local diocese as to the full administration of cemetery lots.

Around mid-October, Loot issued a closure order against at least 25 unauthorized cemeteries in her municipality, based on the findings and recommendation of the Department of Health and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

If not stopped, Loot said the number could increase, because almost all big-time landowners and families who belong to the upper class want their own cemetery.

The mayor has said that closing these illegal cemeteries may harm her political career but she does not care as she wants the laws to be followed by everybody. – (FREEMAN)