AFP: Prenuptial photos at Libingan a 'desecration'

MANILA, Philippines - A couple who had their prenuptial pictorial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani desecrated the cemetery, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said yesterday.

“The pictures are saddening. Perhaps the couple (in the photos) didn’t know that they are actually violating the sacredness of the place,” AFP spokesman Commodore Miguel Rodriguez said in a press briefing.

Rodriguez said the Army’s Support Command, which supervises the Grave Services Unit, has been tasked to probe how the couple managed to hold their pictorial in the heroes’ cemetery.

“We would just want to be able to find out how it happened...so these things will not happen in the future again,” he added.

Rodriguez, however, could not tell if soldiers tasked to secure the cemetery would be slapped with sanctions due to the incident.

The prenuptial photos were taken by the East Digital Studio and posted on social networking sites yesterday. The couple claimed the theme of their pictorial was “till death do us part.”

East Digital Studio, which took the photos, has apologized for the incident and vowed to be more careful in choosing the location of their pictorials.

The Libingan ng mga Bayani is located in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City and was established in 1947 to pay tribute to Filipino heroes.

More than 46,000 have been interred in the cemetery, including former presidents, soldiers who died in line of duty or were honorably discharged, war veterans, and statesmen.