FORMER Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña, his wife City Councilor Margot, and some relatives visited their family mausoleum yesterday at the Doña Pepang Cemetery as they observed All Saints’ Day.
But unlike previous years, no other families were there when they visited, and the houses in front of the cemetery have been cleared already by the city government which plans to convert the area into a heritage park.
Only the Osmeña mausoleum, with its towering Greek columns, will remain. The remains of those buried in the other family mausoleums will be exhumed and transferred to a columbary by City Hall.
“I’m just sad. It’s very cruel. I feel guilty that we are the only ones left there,” said Osmeña, who arrived at 10:30 a.m. He and his group earlier attended Mass before visiting the mausoleum where the remains of the first Cebuano president Don Sergio Osmeña Sr., his wife Estefania “Dona Pepang” Veloso-Osmeña, and Osmena’s father Sergio Osmeña Jr., are interred.
Mayor Michael Rama, Osmeña’s rival, arrived a few minutes after Osmeña left at 11 a.m.
Rama said he was there to inspect Cebu City cemeteries.
When asked to comment on Osmena’s statements, he said the changes in the cemetery are for the better.