ORMOC CITY, Philippines — Three barangay chairmen of this city signified their intention to allocate a portion in their respective areas for burial grounds.
Citing inconvenience and practicality, they justified their plan by citing the far distance of their barangays to the city cemetery—the nearest of which is 12 kilometers—which causes delay and extra expenses during funerals.
Barangays Liberty, Valencia and Guintigui-an officials had included in their barangay land use plan the burial grounds, in accordance with the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board guidelines of 1x2.44 square meter per burial plot of the 30 percent open space available.
In a talk with The Freeman, the chairmen jointly narrated the difficulties of their constituents during visitation season of the Kalag-kalag (All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days) every November at the city cemetery.
“We simultaneously lost our love ones during the Ormoc flash flood, mao tingali grabe ang traffic panahon sa ting-dagkot kay magkadungan man.”
While Barangays Liberty and Valencia already started burying their dead in their respective cemeteries, unofficially though, only Liberty had submitted its papers to the city government for approval, and still waiting for the latter’s official reply.
With the growing population of Ormoc, traffic has become worse through the years for the Kalag-kalag, especially this year with the unfinished road project in the main road leading to the cemetery.
Meanwhile, the Ormoc Traffic Police Division, anticipating the traffic gridlock during the Kalag-kalag observance, had implemented the diversion of all trucks and city-bound vehicles away from the usual bottle-neck intersections.
Inspector Wenceslao, traffic chief, said all vehicles from Albuera, Leyte should turn right at the junction near Sabin Resort Hotel and must traverse inland through the diversion road. (FREEMAN)