US and Philippine flags are on display on the niches of Filipino and American veterans burried at the Cebu City Veterans Memorial Park in Barangay Labangon. CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
Just last week, Filipino World War II veterans finally received what they have been fighting for for decades — a Congressional Gold Medal Award from the United States Congress, which is the highest civilian award given by the US government.
But over at the Cebu City Veterans Memorial Park, where close to 300 Filipino and American war veterans have been laid to rest, people are recklessly stepping on niches and tombstones surrounded by muddy paths.
What is supposed to be a memorial park for heroes has become just like any public cemetery that’s unkept and attended to only during All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days celebration.
“The place has become very crowded. Bati na kaayo. Para man unta ni sa mga bayani sa World War. Para man unta ni sa mga heroes pero murag nawala na ang essence (The area is no longer pleasing to the eyes. This is supposed to be a burial area for war heroes. This is supposed to be intended for heroes, but the place already lost its essence),” said Jijie Laborte, daughter of a Filipino war veteran.
Laborte was with her siblings and relatives at the Veterans Memorial Park in Barangay Labangon on Wednesday morning to pay their respects to their late father Jose Laborte Sr., who died in 1989.
She said that the memorial park was already encroached by the adjacent Calamba Public Cemetery. Its lack of fence and proper delineation has prompted people in the area to also use the cemetery as their walkway, even stepping on the niches of the war veterans.
“We hope this place can be developed with complete amenities like comfort rooms and a security guard,” Laborte said.
Veterans’ resting place
Built in the 1950s, the Veterans Memorial Park is owned and managed by the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP).
It houses 289 war veterans including around 40 Americans.
The park had an area of around 830 square meters before apartment-type niches, which are extensions of the nearby Calamba cemetery, were built there a few years ago.
Laborte said she wanted the final resting place of her father and other war veterans preserved and protected from any other encroachments.
Leonardo Fabiano, VFP Central Visayas president and a retired second lieutenant of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said he also wants to see some developments introduced into the memorial park.
The area, for one, needed proper fencing to protect niches from vandals and unauthorized encroachments. While the cemetery’s gate and front fence were recently rehabilitated, its sides are without fences.
Fabiano said that VFP also wanted the cemetery grounds planted with bermuda grass to improve its landscape.
“They (veterans buried in the area) were all awarded the highest civilian award by the United States. But it’s like the sacredness of this place is gone,” he told Cebu Daily News.
Fabiano and other VFP staff were at the memorial park on Wednesday to oversee activities in celebration of the All Saints’ Day. The group is also scheduled to sponsor a Mass inside the memorial park today.
Tessie Taboada, VFP-7 secretary general, said they are gradually doing improvements works at the cemetery.
“We want this to be really enclosed because we see the civilians, they do not honor our veterans buried here as heroes. They just step on them. This is supposed to be really a historical memorial park,” she told CDN.
US recognition
The 289 war veterans in the facility are part of the beneficiaries of the US Congressional Gold Medal Award which was just presented by the US Congress in a ceremony last October 25.
Fabiano said the gold medals for them are already in transit to Cebu and may be claimed by Filipino war veterans’ relatives after they comply with VFP requirements.
The Congressional Gold Medal Award is the highest civilian award that the US government can grant.
The law honoring the Filipino war veterans was signed by President Obama last January.
It was in July 1942 when around 260,000 Filipino and Filipino-American soldiers heeded the call of then-president Franklin Roosevelt to fight with US soldiers in World War II.
Of the 260,000, more than 57,000 were killed in action and thousands wounded. There are around 18,000 Filipino veterans still alive until today.