A cleaner for hire clean the graves in preparation for All Saints and All Souls Day. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Talisay City Government is yet to issue the guidelines for the observance of Kalag-Kalag this November 1 and November 2.
The Talisay City Police, for their part, recommended reimplementing the protocols they had in the previous year.
“Last year, our strategies were very effective. We limited the number of people going in the cemetery and then we only allowed them to visit cemeteries on certain days,” said Police Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare, chief of the Talisay City Police Station, in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Pelare said the city will be convening all concerned agencies and stakeholders, particularly the management of public and private cemeteries anytime soon, to discuss how they will be observing All Saints Day (November 1) and All Souls Day (November 2).
On the other hand, the Talisay Police chief said he is open to the idea of reallowing individuals to visit cemeteries on the actual dates of the Kalag-Kalag, provided that these are subject to regulations such as crowd limits.
“I cannot give specific details until we can come up with the policies. It’s not my call (to announce) but I’m open to opening the cemeteries on November 1 and November 2 as long as there are specific percentages (on the crowd limit),” Pelare explained.
“But I’m in no authority to declare which policy (will be implemented). We will still be meeting with the mayor (Gerald Anthony ‘Samsam’ Gullas),” he added.
In 2020, during the early stages of the pandemic, the Talisay City Government closed all cemeteries from October 30 to November 4, in compliance with the recommendations of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).
The city government only reopened cemeteries to the public from October 15 to October 30. In addition, cemeteries are only allowed to accept visitors up to a maximum of 30 percent of their capacity at a given time. /rcg
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