Cemetery settlers to move out before this month

The makeshift shelters within and near the Doña Pepang cemetery will be removed while the 37 families will be moved to nearby barangay Tejero to give way for the conversion of the site into a public park.
(CDN Photo/Junjie Mendoza)

About 37 families living inside the Doña Pepang cemetery in barangay Carreta in Cebu City will be relocated to neighboring barangay Tejero before the end of this month, Cebu City Hall’s Department for the Welfare of Urban Poor (DWUP) said last Friday.

“Kinahanglan na gyud na sila mo out sa menteryo kay dili na na pa puy-an (They should leave the cemetery because no one would be allowed to live there),” DWUP chief Collin Rosell said.

Rosell said they are holding a series of meetings with the 37 families who live in emptied tombs and mausoleums in the cemetery for their transfer.

City Hall  plans to build an amphitheater in the area, Rosell sad.

Mayor Michael Rama said he wanted to pursue a plan drawn up during the administration of his predecessor, former mayor Tomas Osmeña, to convert the cemetery lot into a public park.

Prohibition

Rosell said the 37 families will be made to occupy small “pockets” of land that were left unused after City Hall changed the alignment of Alviola Street and connected one end of the barangay Road to General Maxilom Avenue.

He said 63 other families who live near the mausoleums and along the access road which leads to the Doña Pepang cemetery will be asked to vacate before the year ends.

Rosell said these families will be temporarily relocated to a portion of the old Lorega San Miguel cemetery which is now used as an evacuation area for Lorega fire victims who are still waiting for the assignment of a permanent relocation site.

City Hall issued a prohibition against new burials at the Doña Pepang cemetery starting last November 15.

Survey

But Rama said he intends to keep the Osmeña mausoleum because of its historical significance.

Rosell said architect Socorro Atega is helping the city come up with its public park design.

The proposed design will include an amphitheater that will have a Greek or Roman architectural design featuring a round or oval building, typically unroofed and a central space for sporting events.

Tiers of seats for spectators surround its central space.

But Rosell said City Hall will have to clear the Doña Pepang cemetery of settlers first.

He said a survey will be done to identify the tombs and mausoleums in the area.

Rosell said they want clearing operations to be complete by the end of the year so the development of the public park could start early next year.

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