Cebu City residents urged: Visit cemeteries while deadline for cemetery closure is still days away

Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, chief of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), is encouraging the public to visit their departed loved ones in the cemetery while it is not the last day for it to be opened this month. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The police are appealing to Cebu City residents to visit their departed loved ones in the different cemeteries in the city while the last day for the October visitation is still a few days away.

Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, Cebu City Police Office chief, said please do not visit the cemetery all at the same time on the last day of the visitation days this October — October 29.

Read: Cemeteries in Cebu City closed from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3

Mayor Edgardo Labella has issued an executive order that Cebu City cemeteries will be closed from October 30 to November 3, which is a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“Ayaw tawon mo ug usa og hunay nga magdungan mo ug bisita petsa 29,” said Ligan.

(Please don’t decide to come all at the same time to visit the cemetery on the 29th.)

Ligan made the appeal since they were expecting the possibility of people deciding to have that last minute visits to the cemeteries on the 29th which could might end up with cemeteries having a bigger crowd than expected.

He said that with a bigger crowd, safety protocols might be more difficult to impose in the cemeteries in that kind of situation.

Read: Fewer people seen in cemeteries on start of month-long allowed visitation

Despite that, Ligan said the Cebu City policemen were ready to secure the cemeteries and implement the safety protocols needed.

“Definitely, ang parking areas ana mudaghan, so akong panawagan sa atong mga kaigsuonan sa syudad sa Sugbo na palihog naa pa tay upat ka adlaw nga nabilin para sa pagduaw,said Ligan, who made this appeal on Monday, October 26.

(Definitely there will be more parking areas so I am appealing to our fellow Cebuanos to please visit the cemeteries now because we still have four days left to visit them.)

Ligan also said that since the start of the cemetery visitations in the city, the Cebu City policemen had ably secured the cemeteries in the city together with the barangay tanods and city disaster risk reduction personnel.

“Wala tay natala nga reklamo nga nakawatan or nawala or naunsa ba sud sa mga sam-ang. Just to make sure, atong mga security forces nagpadayon sa pag monitor,” said Ligan. 

(We have not received any report of theft or of any incidents inside the cemeteries. Just to make sure, our security forces have continued to monitor these cemeteries.)

1,672 CV cops deployed to cemeteries

Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas has announced that there are 1,627 policemen, who have been deployed to secure 415 cemeteries in Central Visayas.

Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of Police Regional Office (PRO7), said that all the policemen were directed to increase their vigilance to be able to properly secure all the areas they were assigned to.

“We will also try to secure the different bus terminals the seaports and the airports. We have four airports in Central Visayas and 60 seaports and bus terminals is around 57, so we will try to see to it that our different place of convergence is also secured,” said Ferro.

Ferro further reminded the public that cemeteries would be closed from October 29 to November 4.  In Cebu City, however, the closure of the cemeteries in the city will only be from October 30 to November 3.

The PRO-7 chief encouraged the public to take advantage of the remaining days that they could still visit the cemeteries this month./dbs