By Magtanggol C. Vilar
CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija, (PNA) — This city’s public cemetery is literally bursting at the seams where even the small alleys are playing hosts to new burials.
Fact is, even the pauper section of the cemetery hosting at least a couple of hundred slots to give space for those unable to afford the high cost of burial grounds have long been filled up, giving birth to the local joke here.
It goes this way: Question: “Why are cemeteries fenced?” Answer: “Because everybody’s dying to get in.”
Which brings up a proposal in the early ‘90s during the administration of then Mayor Honorato C. Perez who planned another cemetery in the village of Pangatian, which hosts the world famous “Pangatian Shrine,” site of the daring January 30, 1945 rescue by the 6th Ranger Battalion of Filipino guerrillas and US Army of a multi-national group of 513 prisoners-of-war.
That proposal, however, died a natural death when Mayor Perez was assassinated.
Incumbent City Mayor Julius Cesar V. Vergara, however, said he is setting his sights on a new site for a public cemetery here.
But, the lack of a public cemetery to host the aging sector of the city is somehow being served by a host of private memorial parks, namely: Eternal Garden-Cabanatuan situated in Barangay Sta. Arcadia); Eternal Home Memorial Park (Dalampang), Eternal Peace Memorial Park (Mayapyap Sur), Goldwell Memorial Park/Villa Verde (Mabini Extension), Sagrada Familia Memorial Park (Kapitan Pepe), Sanctuary Memorial Park (San Isidro), and St. Martin Memorial Park (Pamaldan), and Serenity Gardens (Sta. Arcadia).
In the middle of hectic preparations as sprucing up of tombs, re-lettering of “Rest in Peace” signs in various cemeteries, the Philippine Red Cross -Nueva Ecija chapter has announced a medical mission in at least four cemeteries here.
The PRC will put up a first aid station, blood pressure-taking station, and welfare desk station, to be manned by its staff and volunteers from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on November 1.
According to former Gov. Tomas N. Joson, PRC-Nueva Ecija chapter chairman of the board, the special event dubbed “Alagaan ang mga taong buhay; bisitahin ang namatay ninyong mahal-sa-buhay,” is aimed at monitoring and ensuring the good health of people visiting the tombs of their dearly beloved ones.
“This project cares for the welfare of both the living and the dead, and brings closer to the masses the health service of the Philippine Red Cross,” Joson said.
Aside from monitoring the blood pressure of cemetery-goers, the staff and volunteers of the PRC will also serve those families who would be distressed by missing kids and other problems within the cemetery requiring medical attention and an ambulance service.
Meanwhile, the Cabanatuan Electric Corporation (Celcor), headed by its president Rosanna V. Vergara, has announced their annual project of providing electricity in all the public as well as private cemeteries to ensure an atmosphere of peace and serenity within the burial grounds while everybody is paying homage to their departed loved ones.