Bishop on cemetery trash: Why litter a sacred place?

MANILA, Philippines — Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David lamented the mounds of trash left by cemetery visitors this All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days. 

In a Facebook post, David, who is also vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said the Filipinos’ “bad habit” of leaving trash was tantamount to disrespecting the cemetery.

The bishop frowned upon the habit that is rooted in the Filipinos’ superstition of not tidying up during a wake.

“I cannot think of anything more ridiculous, uncivilized, and unChristian and plainly stupid,” the bishop said.

“Our cemeteries used to be called ‘campo santo’ (meaning, sacred ground). So why should we litter a place we consider sacred? Unless, of course, we’ve already totally lost the sense of the sacredness of human life,” the bishop said.

According to the Manila’s department of public services, at least 45 truckloads of garbage were collected from the Manila North Cemetery and 32 truckloads from the Manila South Cemetery from Oct. 30 to yesterday afternoon.

David, who also called out President Duterte for calling saints “drunkards,” said leaving trash beside the tombs of the departed is not any different to how the President regards the slain victims in his war on drugs as “nothing but carcasses.”

“To litter a cemetery is to make a statement; it is to say, ‘The dead are nothing but biodegradable trash,’” David said.