Still no cemetery in Pag-asa Island’s Kalayaan town

MANILA, Philippines – In this far-flung island without a cemetery, residents in Kalayaan town in Pag-asa Island in the Spratlys remember their dead on All Saints’ Day by offering homemade delicacies and lighted candles in their homes.

“For now, we don’t have a cemetery and because we do usually request for a military plane to fly our dead back to mainland Palawan for burial,” said Kalayaan Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon Jr.

A fifth-class municipality of Palawan, Kalayaan Island town of Pag-asa in the Spratlys archipelago is home to around 300 civilian residents. 

To date, deliberations are still underway on various development projects on the island, including the putting up of a cemetery.

As part of the town’s development plan, Bito-onon said a small parcel of land has been reserved for the town’s cemetery.

This All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, Bito-onon said the islanders would be honoring their departed loved ones with offerings of biko, suman and puto.

These homemade delicacies are sold everyday in the island but on special occasions like today, they are offered as gifts.

As part of the Halloween celebration in the island, each household has to light a candle and do offerings for their loved ones.

A number of Muslim families are also residing in the island town and they don’t mind or get offended by these Christian religious rituals, Bito-onon said.

After the offering, all residents usually gather around to drink tuba, a native coconut wine, which is locally produced aside from the liquor supply from the mainland.

Bito-onon though lamented their liquor supply for the occasion ran out because the only link to the mainland – a motorboat – was late in delivering supplies from Palawan.