Cebu town mayor belies mass grave

CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — A town in Cebu province dismissed claims that it maintains a mass grave for those who died of COVID-19.

In a statement, officials of Pinamungajan town said they obeyed a Department of the Interior and Local Government directive allowing only ground burial for COVID-19 fatalities.

“Our new municipal cemetery is the only site in place for COVID-related deaths. All the dead bodies buried therein have their own separate grave, contrary to claims that it is a mass grave. The local government of Pinamungajan gives high respect and value even to our departed constituents. Thus, it is absolutely false that we merely bury them in a mass grave,” the statement said.

—NESTLE SEMILLA