Cops keep watch on visit attempts in cemeteries

CEBU, Philippines —  Aside from the few who attempted at first, no more visitors went to the five cemeteries in Cebu City since its closure on Friday.

Police Major Renz Talosig of Mabolo Police Station said that for the past days on their security deployment, he assessed it has been generally peaceful despite the announcement of its closure since October 29. The closure is until tomorrow.

Talosig said they have been monitoring a total of five cemeteries under their area of responsibility.

"Wala tay nakuha nga bawal bitaw dal-on, pagsugod pa sa 25, bawal na na magdala, katong mga cleaning materials, wala gyud tay nakuha," said Talosig.

Since its closure on October 29, Talosig said there were some individuals not informed of the closure attempted to visit cemeteries.

"Naa pero dili kaayo daghan, ug nakasabot man pud sila, ginagmay lang," said Talosig.

Despite the closure of cemeteries, Talosig said they haven't pulled out yet their security deployment as they anticipate that there will be individuals who will attempt to visit and would take advantage that cemeteries are left unguarded.

"Di nato malikayan ing-ana, pareha atong akong giingon nga niadto nga wala kabalo nga sarado diay, at least naay nakabantay, napugngan gyud nato nga di sila musulod," said Talosig.

On the situation also in the Ludo Chinese Cemetery wherein at least 250 families have resided, Talosig said they coordinated with the cemetery administrators prior to their deployment that they are still going to deploy police personnel to man the area.

There were two cops at the entrance and exit points, respectively, along with the village watchers.

According to him, they conducted a rekorida requesting the residents to as much as possible avoid going outside during the observance of Kalag-kalag.

"Sa akong assessment, sa Ludo Chinese Cemetery to be exact, mag range lang na og almost 20 ka tawo ang muanha, so gamay nalang gyud ng naa dira, wala nay gilubong dira 8 years ago pa," said Talosig.

On their original deployment plan for the Kalag-kalag, Talosig said they have allotted at least eight police personnel in each big cemetery such as the Queen City Memorial Garden and Cebu Memorial Park.

During the announcement of the closure, the police cut the deployment in half to realign this into the rekorida, Oplan Bulabog and implementation of curfew.

"Pero naa ra gihapon atong deployment sa menteryo, wa na nawala, nakuhaan lang," said Talosig. — GMR (FREEMAN)