More than 1 M flock to MM cemeteries

MANILA, Philippines - More than one million people yesterday braved the scorching sun and trooped to Metro Manila’s cemeteries to visit their dead loved ones.

Metro Manila’s biggest cemetery, the Manila North Cemetery, estimated at 50 hectares, teemed with visitors in a situation described by MNC director Raffy Mendez as “hindi mo talaga mahulugan ng karayom (there was no room to drop a needle).”

The estimate was given at 2 p.m. yesterday. The figure excluded those who stayed in the cemetery overnight.

Visitors have been flocking to the MNC since Thursday. As the visitors increased, so did the piles of trash they left behind.

MNC personnel gathered about five to 10 truckloads of garbage since its gates were opened last week, Mendez said.

Gun recovered from visitor

Around 18,000 people trooped to different cemeteries and columbaria in Quezon City, as the police said there were no untoward incidents that occurred at these placed visited by many on All Saints’ Day.

A gun, however, was recovered from a man about to enter Holy Cross Memorial Park in Novaliches, said Senior Superintendent Timoteo Pacleb, chief of directorial staff of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).

QCPD Station 4 commander Superintendent Norberto Babagay said Jesus Francisco recovered a .9mm pistol from a motorist about to enter the private cemetery at past noon.

Babagay said it started with an altercation between Francisco, a resident in the area, and the gun holder, who would later on be identified as Lory Malibiran of Barangay Sangandaan.

The gun holder was driving his motorcycle along Acme Road at the back of the cemetery. He was reportedly accosted by Francisco during a traffic jam.

Babagay said Malibiran reportedly opened the compartment of his motorcycle and when Francisco saw the gun, he grabbed it. Babagay noted that the election gun ban was still in effect.

This prompted Malibiran to speed off along with his companion. Malibiran was later on identified through a police clearance certificate, while Francisco surrendered the gun.

Pacleb said they would be searching for the gun owner for appropriate charges to be filed against him.

‘Unauthorized’ missionaries

The management of the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City barred yesterday two “unauthorized” missionaries from performing religious rites in the cemetery.

Church of God priest Ben Porteres and Christian missionary Carlo Buenaventura were not allowed to give a blessing in the memorial park, whose officials coordinated with the Our Lady of Peace parish church.

Only a priest accredited by the parish is allowed to say mass or do a blessing in the park.

The two missionaries left to conduct their rites in public cemeteries, a park official said.

Meanwhile, almost 40,000 people flocked to the different cemeteries in the southern part of Metro Manila, the Southern Police District (SPD) said yesterday.

SPD director Chief Superintendent Jose Erwin Villacorte said that as of 11 a.m. the estimated crowd was at 36,139 visitors in cemeteries in the cities of Pasay, Taguig, Las Piñas, Parañaque and the town of Pateros.

Villacorte said no untoward incidents were reported in the public and private cemeteries in the southern part of the metropolis.

Bike tour

Eastern Police District director Chief Superintendent Miguel Laurel toured 16 cemeteries in San Juan, Pasig, Mandaluyong and Marikina yesterday to check on police officers manning public assistance centers at the cemeteries.

“As of this time, I can say that the general situation in the EPD is peaceful and orderly. Our police deployment is intact and we shall be securing the cemeteries till the wee hours of the morning,” he said.– Aie Balagtas See, Perseus Echeminada, Mike Frialde, Non Alquitran