By Saul E. Pa-a
NAGCARLAN, Laguna (PNA) — The nation observed “All Saint’s Day” on Friday (Nov. 1) and the day after for “All Souls’ Day” (Nov. 2) with droves of holiday goers visiting the “dead spots” first to pay respects to their dearly departed and then to their vacation escapades with the family circle and clan next in their itinerary.
Yet venturing a trip some 105 kilometers south of Manila in Nagcarlan town, one discovers the home of the 18th century walled and underground cemetery.
Nagcarlan’s famous landmark is the only one of its kind in the country, which is also replete with the ingredients befitting the nationwide Christian observance with its archaic graveyard, the crypt and the chapel.
The only things missing here are the hordes of cemetery-goers, kin, relatives and loved ones who ought to be standing by offering wreaths, flowers and lighting candles before graves of their dearly departed.
But the place is now a historical shrine under the auspices of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), thus, is no longer operational as a public burial site.
Sparking the curiosity of many, the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery was built like the catacombs in France where underground chambers were used as burial places.
Here, the underground graveyard 15 feet below the historic church which used to be a site for consecrating the rites for the dead before their interment has recesses dug out for coffins and tombs.
A marker is placed to indicate the chapel or church was constructed and designed for funeral mass in 1845, but this sacred place is no longer run like the public cemetery that it used to be.
Below the chapel, one is thrilled to an archway with a tiled walkway that leads to the underground crypt.
Unlike several national shrines and heroes’ monuments, the underground cemetery is not a memorial site where famous heroes are buried here.
There is none buried on record but the Historical Commission has transformed this site into a national shrine.
Historical accounts have it that the country’s nameless heroes and patriots of the revolutionary movement “Katipunan,” 1896 Revolution and war-time heroes sought sanctuary as they craft their revolutionary “game” plan and the guerrilla movement.
On “All Saints’ Day”, Nagcarlan folk and residents consider this a hallowed ground where we ought to pay respect to the country’s heroes and martyrs for their sacrifices and patriotic feats.
Other Laguna sites that are steeped in history and cultural heritage are the notable shrines that serve as resting places and graveyards of famous and illustrious sons and daughters of the Philippine Revolution of 1896.
The Rizal Shrine in Calamba City, for example, may be known as an enduring Spanish colonial house, ancestral home and cradle of National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal.
Yet unknown to many Filipinos, this National Shrine is also the repository place of the remains of Jose Rizal’s parents – Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonzo.
The remains of Jose’s parents were laid to rest here in re-interment rites in a fitting graveyard beside the ancestral house grounds next to the boy Jose Rizal’s monument and about 20 meters from the famous “wishing well.”
The NHCP, Calamba City government and the Rizal clan also paid their respects during the re-interment of the mortal remains of Jose Rizal’s sister Narcisa and the latter’s family from the Rizal Ancestral House and Shrine to their final resting place in Los Baños.
In a PNA interview, Olga Palacay, curator of the Calamba Rizal Shrine and Ancestral House disclosed that the mortal remains of one of Jose Rizal’s elder sister Narcisa and her family were cremated and kept in their respective urns after these were exhumed from the Manila North Cemetery.
Historical records also revealed that on a visit to Paco cemetery days after Rizal’s execution in Bagumbayan (Luneta), it was Rizal’s sister Narcisa who discovered Jose’s grave there.
Narcisa negotiated with the Paco cemetery caretaker to mark the grave with a small marble slab she had carried with her that bore Rizal’s inverted initials RPJ.
Rizal’s remains were re-interred later to Luneta on the site where his famous monument landmark now stands.