Cebu City COVID-19 cemetery project shelved

DENR Secretary and IATF-Visayas Chief Implementer Roy Cimatu and local officials, inspect a 2-hectare site in Sitio Baksan, Barangay Sapandaku, Cebu City which is being considered as a potential public cemetery for COVID-19 victims. The project has since been shelved. |via Morexette Marie Erram, photos courtesy of DENR-Central Visayas

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City’s plan to build a cemetery for victims of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic will no longer push through.

Councilor David Tumulak, the proponent for the Cebu City Memorial Garden ordinance said they have shelved the project for now because there is no apparent need for a cemetery.

He said with the reduction of the COVID-19 related deaths, there is no more need for additional burial space for the victims.

“Nalipay ta kay wala nay rason para magtukod tag sementeryo. Hopefully dili na gyod ta magkinahanglan og sementeryo,” said Tumulak.

The planned cemetery was supposed to be built in Sapangdaku, which was personally selected by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, when he was assigned as overseer for the Interagency Task Force (IATF) in the Visayas.

READ: COVID-19 cemetery in Cebu City put on hold

The city government has put on hold the project due to the objections of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) as they found that the water runoff from the site may cause contamination to the waterways and wells in the area.

There are also other concerns surrounding the site in Barangay Sapangdaku mostly with regards to the environment and the health of nearby residents.

For now, the project has been officially shelved as there is no apparent need to build such.

The city will now focus on keeping the COVID-19 cases low to avoid a rise in deaths and intensify vaccination to achieve the desired herd immunity.

For May 2021, the city only recorded 12 COVID-19 related death.   /rcg