A peculiar burial procession: North Cotabato clan crosses river to transport remains of relative

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Filipino ingenuity.

This made easy for members of an Ilonggo clan in Aleosan, North Cotabato their transport of the remains of a departed relative to a barrio cemetery after heavy rains prior left the only overland route to the site virtually impassable.

Using a raft fashioned from buoyant banana trunks, they managed to transfer last Monday the dead from one bank of the river to another in Barangay Palacat, Aleosan where the graveyard is.

Slowly, they succeeded in moving the peculiar "fluvial hearse" from one side of the river to the other in what was to become viral in social media, something never ever witnessed before by barangay residents.

There was nothing wrong with the peculiar burial procession since the dead person did not die of COVID-19, according to local officials.

Ilonggo settlers in North Cotabato and other provinces around are known for their resilience and creativity, traits that keep them going through the daily ordeals in life.

They have, in fact, been surviving through security challenges brought about either by recurring secessionist conflicts, or troubles instigated by communist terrorist groups while in far-flung areas propagating corn and rice as main sources of income, a cycle often punctuated by peace and order problems.

Besides banana trunks, bamboos are also readily available for makeshift rafts that barrio folk assemble for emergency transport of belongings and persons.

Bamboos, however, became expensive lately owing to a booming “movable” cogon-roofed hut production industry in many parts of central Mindanao, also pioneered by ingenious Ilonggos.