Vigan City limits visits to city cemeteries for ‘Undas’

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte—Residents of Ilocos Sur’s capital city of Vigan are only given limited time at the cemeteries when they visit their departed loved ones during this year’s “Undas,” local officials said Saturday.

Cemeteries in the city – the Public Cemetery, Simbaan a Bassit Cemetery, Chinese Cemetery, Loyola Cemetery, Ayusan Sur Cemetery and Jardin de Caridad – are open from October 23 to 28 and November 3 to 8 but only at 7 to 8 .a.m. and 4 to 8 p.m.

These cemeteries, however, will be closed from October 29 to November 2, following the directive from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to close cemeteries and similar places during these dates to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The total number of visitors at the cemeteries should not exceed 30 percent of the venue capacity, the city government said.

To prevent crowding in the six cemeteries, city officials had implemented a clustering scheme wherein residents from each village are expected to follow a designated visiting schedule.

Residents and those coming from other towns and cities would not be allowed to enter the Vigan cemeteries without a quarantine pass or stub issued by local authorities or the city health officials.

Age restrictions would also be temporarily lifted during the scheduled cemetery visits, according to the city government.

/MUF