Court allows Ecija townsfolk to visit dead at disputed cemetery

TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija, Philippines — Julieta Alday, 67, was prepared to clean the tomb of her grandfather as early as last week but she was alarmed by reports that residents would be stopped unless they paid at least P5,000 for burying their dead inside a fenced portion of the Libingan ng Bayan supposedly owned by the town government.

“Where would we get that kind of money? This is the first time we are being made to pay,” she said.

Alday’s household is one of the families tending to some 1,500 tombs inside a 13,822-square-meter lot at the cemetery, which has been claimed by the heirs of Maximo and Julia Tumibay.

Municipal records showed the Tumibays sold the property to the town government in the 1960s.

In 2012, Maximo’s son, Felomino, demanded payment of P41.46 million from the town government, claiming he owned the lot.

On Aug. 21, Fausto Pascual and Eduardo Francisco allegedly dismantled all improvements put up by the town government on the instructions of the Tumibay grandchildren, Rommel and Mario.

They fenced the area with concrete posts and barbed wire and had demanded payments from residents visiting the tombs there.

On Saturday, a 17-day temporary restraining order (TRO), issued on Oct. 24 by Judge Nelson Tribiana of the Regional Trial Court here, was enforced by the court sheriff and by Talavera Mayor Nerivi Santos-Martinez.

The TRO enjoined Pascual, Francisco and the Tumibay grandchildren from stopping people from entering the cemetery. It also allowed residents to visit their family tombs on All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day.

Serious consequences

The court said it was convinced there was an urgent need to preserve the status quo “especially so, that it is being used as a public cemetery where the beloved departed of the residents were buried.”

Tribiana said the TRO would “prevent serious consequences that may arise if the bereaved families of the departed would be prevented from entering the cemetery, not to mention the serious and irreparable damage it may cause to the municipality of Talavera.”

Martinez said they had asked the court for a permanent injunction, arguing that town’s acquisition of the property 60 years ago was above board.