At least six cemeteries in Cebu City full

CEBU, Philippines —  Just over a month after Cebu City abandoned the planned cemetery project for those who died from COVID-19, the city is now ringing the alarm bells as at least six cemeteries are reportedly already on full capacity.

And while those buried in these cemeteries are not all COVID-19 patients, the city is not underestimating the 34 deaths from the coronavirus it recorded from July 1 to 26, 2021 alone. If suspected cases and “probables” are included in the count, the number would reach 55.

Data from the Department of Health (DOH)-7 reflected 32 deaths from the city in this time period.

Among the cemeteries already on full capacity are the cemeteries in Pardo, Calamba, A. Lopez, as well as the municipal cemetery, veteran’s cemetery, and Queen City Memorial Garden.

Even exhumation of bodies for possible replacement is not available at the moment.

Antonio Baguio, a member of the staff at the Calamba cemetery, told The Freeman they had to turn away several families that looked for a space to bury their loves ones.

The cemetery in Carreta, on the other hand, only has four niches left as of July 26.

As he urged residents anew to continue to be vigilant against COVID-19, Councilor Dave Tumulak said the price of burial spaces in cemeteries alone is very expensive.

A space at the Queen City Memorial Garden, for example, would cost P75,000. In other cemeteries, a space would cost P20,000 or P9,000. The cheapest, a niche, would cost P5,000.

The bottomline, Tumulak said, is that a death from COVID is a death too many.

Granting that a patient is asymptomatic, Tumulak said cost of isolation at a hotel, for example, is not a walk in the park.

"Busa amping tawn mo… pwerte mahala mag-isolate," Tumulak said.

He encouraged residents to get vaccinated once a vaccine is available to them.

Right now, most of the severe cases are non-vaccinated patients, Tumulak and experts’ said.

In DOH-7’s July 26 case bulletin, Cebu City now has 2,174 active cases including 161 new ones.

The city has registered three digits in new cases for the past 10 days – 308 being the highest, so far, and 118 the lowest.

In June, Tumulak said the city decided to shelve the plan for a memorial botanical garden because there was no more need for it as the city’s COVID-19 situation became “manageable” following a second wave of infections in the first quarter of 2021.

“Atong nakita nga wala nay rason para magtukod ta og sementeryo. Hopefully dili na gyod ta magkinahanglan og sementeryo,” he would say.

Now, the city and the rest of Central Visayas is experiencing what the DOH said is a third wave of infections and is fighting tooth and nail to avoid the entry of the dreaded Delta variant, which is creating havoc in other countries. — Sanden J. Anadia, JMO  (FREEMAN)