FACES OF CEBU: Roy Liloan and Teodorico Bilao, gravediggers
Roy Liloan and Teodorico Bilao, Carreta Cathedral Cemetery Sepultureros
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Roy and Rico are the names one will hear often being recommended to clients who seek services of gravediggers.
Both are gravediggers, or locally called “sepultureros,” of the Carreta Cathedral Cemetery located along M.J. Cuenco Avenue in Cebu City.
Roy Liloan, 37, is one of many individuals who reside inside the cemetery. He has been a sepulturero since 2009.
Roy took this job after his grandfather died in 2009. Before he worked as a gravedigger, he was a construction worker.
“Mao nalang ni akoang gi [trabaho] kay ang construction di sad lalim. Unya diri, mao gihapon. Hago sad, pero makapapahuway sad ka’g ginagmay,” Roy said.
(This is what I chose because being a construction worker is not easy. Being a gravedigger is also tough. But at least I can rest a little.)
In every service they take, Roy said they usually receive P500 in exchange. But their income is not fixed. It will depend on how many customers ask for their services.
Admitting that his income is not enough to support his family, he said those who are willing to survive always find ways to live.
Roy, who also sidelines as a tombstone (lapida) maker, has four children with the youngest at 5 months and the eldest at 15 years old.
Roy, who was a resident of barangay Lahug in Cebu City, only started to stay inside Carreta Cathedral Cemetery when he took the job as a sepulturero.
His partner, Teodorico Bilao, more known as Rico, is a resident of barangay Lorega who started this job last September 2020. He took this job after his father died last year. His father was a sepulturero for almost 50 years, he said.
Rico worked in a warehouse for 17 years before he became a gravedigger last year.
Like Roy, Rico is not new to this job since his family has been engaged in this since he was young.
Rico says his income is just enough to provide meals for his seven children but he still is happy just seeing his family eat at least three times a day.
With regards to surviving the pandemic, Roy and Rico say all it takes is courage and hard work.
/bmjo
READ MORE: FACES OF CEBU: Arby Bacasmas, 25, man behind ‘Good morning sunshine’
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