Remnants of the old graveyard like this concrete replica of the Pieta will have to go to give way to a resettlement site for people displaced by the March 18 Lorega fire. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
The Lorega fire tragedy adds a new twist as Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama intends to clear the old cemetery and use it as a resettlement site for thousands of residents displaced by the March 18 fire.
The mayor wants all human remains exhumed before March 30.
Rama said unclaimed remains will be placed in a temporary repository to enable work crews to proceed with the clearing operations.
A large chunk of the fire-affected areas were part of the old Lorega cemetery.
Informal settlers appropriated the cemetery and built their homes on top of the graves.
Tombstones and other markers were among those destroyed in the fire.
City Hall plans to convert the old cemetery into a relocation site for fire victims who are now temporarily housed in the old Sacred Heart School in General Maxilom
Avenue. Some are also taking temporary shelter in nearby barangays Day-as, Carreta and T. Padilla.
As this developed, a teenager was injured after he was hit by debris that toppled from an ongoing clearing of the fire site.
Arnel Buayaban was rushed to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center after he sustained injuries in his back.
Buayaban, according to witnesses was salvaging scrap metal when the accident happened.
A bulldozer was being used to tear down structures in the fire site.
Senior Supt. Noli Romana, chief of police of Cebu City, yesterday afternoon inspected the fire scene and directed the policemen assigned there to ensure that the areas where wrecking crews are working are cleared of people to prevent similar accidents from happening again.
City Hall is reblocking the burned area to create access roads wide enough for emergency vehicles like fire trucks to enter.
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