Duterte visits parents’ tombs before cemetery closure

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Duterte visited the tombs of his parents at the Catholic Wireless Cemetery here hours before the closure of cemeteries for All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day started at midnight yesterday.

The President, accompanied by his partner Honeylet Avanceña and Sen. Bong Go, arrived at around 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Duterte family mausoleum where the remains of his parents, former Davao governor Vicente Duterte and Soledad Roa Duterte, were buried.

Duterte also complied with the city’s 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew by arriving at the cemetery an hour before and leaving the premises immediately before the start of the local curfew.

He never missed to visit the tombs of his parents not only during All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day but also during special occasions like on the night he was noted to have already been winning in the counting of the 2016 national elections on May 9, 2016. Back then, he was seen crying as he sought the help and guidance of his deceased parents.

Duterte admitted he was closer to his mother, Soledad, and that he was devastated when she died in 2012. He was seen bringing a portrait of his parents during his visit to the mausoleum the other night.

The Chief Executive is expected to stay in the city for the rest of week.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said Nov. 1 and 2 are special non-working days, during which the “no work, no pay” principle shall apply.

“Unless there is a favorable company policy, practice or collective bargaining agreement granting payment on a special day, the ‘no work no pay’ policy shall apply,” he said in an advisory.

Workers who report for work on those two holidays are entitled to receive an additional 30 percent of their basic daily wage on the first eight hours of work. An additional 30 percent of hourly rate will be paid for work done in excess of eight hours.

If the special day falls on a rest day, the worker shall be paid an additional 50 percent for the first eight hours of services and another 30 percent of hourly rate for work in excess of the regular time.

Meanwhile, 15,629 police officers nationwide have been ordered to stand guard at cemetery gates during the seven-day suspension of visits in this year’s Undas to make sure no “hardheaded” individuals would breach rules and insist on staying inside burial grounds.

The Joint Task Force (JTF) COVID Shield made the announcement yesterday, saying personnel would be deployed around cemeteries and at entrances from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4.

“We should make sure that the order of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases should be strictly followed because the real intention here is to discourage the influx of large number of people during Undas as part of the measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus,” JTF commander Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said in a statement.

All private and public cemeteries, memorial parks, and various columbarium will be closed during Undas, an annual occasion that has traditionally seen thousands of Filipinos visiting their departed loved ones, as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19. – Mayen Jaymalin, Neil Jayson Servallos