IT IS not only a busy day for people visiting their departed at the Calamba Cemetery, but it was also a hectic day for 68-year-old Dolorina Ebrado, who offers prayers for the dead — for a fee.
Ebrado would stop by graves praying for the souls of the departed family of people who asked her to pray the novena for them.
Ebrado, who is a “mananabtan” or a novena prayer leader, said that the fees she received from the people was used to buy flowers and candles for her family’s grave.
“I came here for two reasons: to offer prayers to the dead and to visit the graves of my departed siblings,” she said in Cebuano.
Ebrado admitted that she doesn’t want to work during these days so that she can have more time celebrating the All Souls’ Day.
But she said she need to work for her to have something to offer at her relatives’ grave.
Ebrado said that per prayer she received a minimum of P50 pesos and maximum of P150. /Reporter Nestle L. Semilla