Drinkers, ‘dancers,’ drug suspects among 62 arrested at Manila North Cemetery

MANILA, Philippines — Manila policemen and teams from the Air Force arrested some 62 persons, including eight men who were literally dancing on someone’s grave and six suspected drug offenders, at the Manila North cemetery.

Before noon on Tuesday, police said, the number of visitors at the 54-hectare Manila cemetery breached the 1 million mark with people continuing to flock to the graves of their buried loved ones for All Saints’ Day despite the long weekend.

Superintendent James Afalla, the Manila Police District (MPD) Sta. Cruz station 3 commander, said that since Monday afternoon until Tuesday morning, some 48 men were arrested for engaging in drinking binges inside the cemetery.

Most of them were rounded up by members of the 1st Air Force Wing Reserve of the National Capital Region assigned to augment security personnel at the Manila North cemetery.

At around 4:30 p.m, Monday, 35-year-old Elmer Borbon, of Novaliches, Quezon City was arrested along Road 33 of the cemetery for allegedly having in his possession two sachets of suspected shabu.  Ten hours later five persons, including a woman, were caught allegedly smoking marijuana and nabbed by the AFWR personnel.

On the other hand, at around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, eight men were arrested by the police personnel for their rowdy conduct inside the cemetery where they drew attention to themselves by dancing half-naked over some of the graves along Main Avenue.

“They sang loudly and danced to their own tune and they were removing their shirts and were in different states of undress as they did,” Afalla told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The eight men apparently got more attention than they wanted as they were charged with alarm and scandal before the city prosecutor’s office for their “show.”

“They (suspects) are disrespecting the dead and were disturbing other visitors. All Saints’ Day is supposed to be a solemn commemoration by the living of our departed loved ones,” the station commander pointed out, adding that instead of charging the group with violation of an ordinance banning  men from going out shirtless in public, he opted to rap them with a more serious offense under the revised penal code.

“It is to teach them a lesson and to serve as a warning to others,” Afalla explained.

Apart from security, sanitation is a priority at the Manila North cemetery where the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation  set up garbage segregation tents around the burial ground.

Kalam Chan, 34, a volunteer for the foundation’s environmental protection program, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that this is the first time that the foundation put up a number of tents in different cemeteries.

According to Chan, they have 50 volunteers going around the grounds with broomsticks, dust pans, and garbage bins, at the Manila north cemetery.

Apart from helping maintain cleanliness at the cemetery, the foundation is engaged in a recycling awareness campaign on the premise that extreme weather conditions resulting in natural disasters are the effects of global warming which we cause through irresponsible disposal of garbage and the use of vehicles and machinery run by carbon, oil or coal.