Inside the Carreta Cemetery in Cebu CIty on October 18, 2021, weeks before Kalag-Kalag 2021. CDN Digital photo | Pegeen Maisie Sararaña
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Policemen in Central Visayas anticipate an influx of cemetery visitors on Wednesday, November 3, 2021, after cemeteries were closed for five days due to health concerns.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Maria Aurora Rayos, information officer of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said that they are ready to handle an increase of visitors in cemeteries who would want to visit their departed loved ones, something they weren’t able to do during All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
Rayos said this after they conducted visits to different cemeteries in Cebu City to check if these are closed and followed the order of the Department of Interior and Local Government to have cemeteries closed from October 29 to November 2.
READ: Cemeteries shut anew for 2nd ‘Undas’ in a row
Last October 28, 2021, Pilar town defied the decision from the DILG on the closure of the cemeteries there. But Police Brigadier General Roque Eduardo Vega, PRO-7 director, directed police assigned in Pilar to follow DILG’s guidelines.
READ: Pilar defies DILG, to open cemeteries on Nov. 1 and 2
Mayor Manuel Santiago of Pilar town eventually changed his stand and ordered the closure of cemeteries there.
Rayos further said that the October 18 to 28 observance of Kalag-Kalag was generally peaceful as there were no recorded major incidents during the said period.
However, for the past few days, from October 29 to November 1, policemen assigned in different cemeteries said that there were a few individuals who tried their luck to visit cemeteries. These individuals were not allowed to enter as directed.
READ: Cebu City residents reminded anew: Cemeteries closed from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2
/bmjo