Loot meets Palma, gives cemetery lot proposal

Daanbantayan Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot offered to help purchase a two-hectare lot to replace the  church cemeteries in four barangays, which she ordered closed last month.

The offer is one of the proposals that Loot submitted to Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma during their meeting last Sunday.

Loot visited Palma at the Achbishop’s Palace to discuss the closure of 25 cemeteries that violated a municipal ordinance in maintaining a cemetery in the town.

The church cemeteries affected by the closure order were those in barangays Agujo, Bagay,  Tapilon and  Maya.

Loot said in a phone interview that the proposals included how to regulate the number of cemeteries in her town and the lot offer.

She said that she wanted to reduce the 25 cemeteries to just nine.

“Paliton na pero ang pagpalit nato una, duna man natigom sa fiesta… so kung whatever ang aboton sa yuta, I’m willing also to help sa simbahan since I am Roman Catholic (We will purchase the lot but we will be using the extra funding from the feast… Whatever the cost of the parcel of land, I’m willing also to help the church since I am Roman Catholic),” she told CEBU DAILY NEWS.

Loot, however, refused to divulge what other matters she discussed with Archbishop Palma during the meeting.

She also said Palma told her that he would study the proposals and would give his comment on the proposals next week.

Loot also bewailed the issue as having been “politicized.”

“Dili lang ta mo-drag ug any priest, nagamit ra ang priest that time They shouldn’t just drag any priest (in the issue). The priest at that time was used,” said Loot about the cemetery issue.

“Ang ila is they want to hear lang ug unsa ang advise ni Gov. Gwen (Garcia). Karon pag-abot nila didto, nakita man nila nga puro opposition. Na-shock sila (All they wanted was to hear Gov. Gwen’s advice. When they attended the meeting, they were surprised upon seeing only opposition members in attendance),” said Loot about the recent meeting with the governor, the complainants and government agencies.

Loot said she planned to file a complaint with the Ombudsman against Cebu Provincial Legal Officer Marino Martinquilla for saying that her closure order was null and void.

She tasked her legal officer to prepare the  documents for the filing of the complaint.

On plans of the Cebu provincial government to file administrative charges at the Cebu Provincial Board against Loot for closing the cemeteries, the Daanbantayan mayor said she would face the charges.

The filing of the charges was decided after the Nov. 21 meeting with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, officials of the Daanbantayan Roman Catholic Church, Department of Health in Region 7, Commission on Human Rights in Region 7, Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) and the complainants—parish priest of Sta. Rosa De Lima Parish Fr. John Jonah Orat and some residents of the town.

Martinquilla, however, said that they were still gathering more affidavits of complainants affected by the closure order.

The Cebu Provincial Legal Office sent a copy of the findings of the governor’s meeting to Loot last Tuesday.

The findings, however, showed that the closure is “illegal, null and void” in violation of Section 99 (b), in relation to Section 101 (c) of Presidential Decree No. 856 or otherwise known as The Code of Sanitation of the Philippines.

It also showed that the power to close cemeteries belong to the Department of Health and not to the local government unit.

Loot’s son, PB member Sun Shimura, for his part, said that his mother had basis for closing the cemeteries.

He cited the letter of DOH-7 Director Susana Madarietta asking Loot to help close the illegal cemeteries in the town. /Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus