Daanbantayan vm to loot: Show proof that closure of cemeteries was legal

CEBU, Philippines - The Municipal Council of Daanbantayan has required former mayor Maria Luisa Loot to present evidence that the continued burial activities in public cemeteries that were ordered closed by the previous administration are indeed illegal.

Vice Mayor Gilbert Arrabis Jr., municipal council’s presiding officer, said he wanted Loot to present the necessary documents before the municipal council. Loot earlier asked the council to act on the alleged indiscriminate burial within the municipality.

Loot, in her letter dated July 9, 2013, through lawyer Leilani Trinidad Villarino, requested the members of the municipal council to look into the alleged violations committed against the existing municipal ordinance no. 13-2003 and section 90, chapter XXI of the Code on Sanitation of the Philippines.

Arabis, in his reply dated August 3, 2013, told Loot that he did not receive any report of indiscriminate burial since he assumed office. According to him, indiscriminate burials are those burials done in places other than designated public cemeteries and authorized burial ground.

“However, as can be gleaned from the letter of your client (Loot), you are referring to the ongoing burials in public cemeteries in the municipality which were closed by the previous administration as indiscriminate,” Arrabis said in his letter.

He said, in order for him to promptly act on the matter, he requested Loot to furnish the council a copy of the necessary documents in relation to the validity of the closure of the public cemeteries as required under Section 6.1 and 6.2.1 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Sanitation Code.

These include the recommendation of the local health authority, closure order issued by the regional health director that is duly approved by the Secretary of Health and the resolution for the closure of cemetery passed by the municipal council.

“It is my belief  that without the required documents enumerated under Section 6.1 and 6.2.1 of the said Implementing Rules and regulations, notice of closure order issued by the previous administration to public cemeteries is null and void and has no legal effect. Moreover, the ongoing burials in these public cemeteries cannot be considered as indiscriminate until such time that a valid closure order is issued,” Arrabis stressed.

Arrabis also clarified that the finding of indiscriminate burials based on the Committee  Investigation report he spearheaded in 2007, was premised of the fact that these burials are done in places other than existing public cemeteries in the municipality.

He also emphasized that the Municipal Order No. 13-2003 does not provide a list of duly recognized cemeteries in the municipality.

Arrabis  clarified that he is not one of those who passed and approved the said ordinance in 2003 because he only became a member of the Sangguniang Bayan of Daanbantayan from 2007 to 2013.

Daanbantayan Mayor Augusto Corro earlier allowed the burial in cemeteries that were closed by his predecessor on the contention that the closure order was null and void. Corro relied on the legal opinion issued by the provincial legal office.

Corro stressed that the said ruling of the Cebu Provincial Legal Office is the latest legal document on file to guide them regarding the closure of the alleged ‘illegal cemeteries’.

Daanbantayan used to have 42 public cemeteries but 37 were ordered closed by the DOH in 2010 due to various violations.

To date, the town has five public cemeteries located in Barangays Bitoon, Maya, Talisay, Tuminjao, and Calape.

Last Oct. 11, 2011, Loot ordered the cessation of burials in unauthorized burial grounds, as recommended by the DOH-7.  (FREEMAN)