A community’s concern
The opposition of a homeowners association to plans by the Cebu City government to allow a Protestant coalition to build a cemetery at the Osmeña shrine in barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City springs from their concern that it would pollute the groundwater sources in the area.
This is understandable owing to a previous incident in which residents of barangay Guba complained about the pollution of their groundwater by leachate from a nearby cemetery.
A school near the shrine also complained about the decline in their enrollment as parents didn’t want their children to study near a cemetery. As if that wasn’t enough, the Capitol and barangay Lahug have entered the picture, further complicating the situation.
Barangay Lahug councilor Mary Ann delos Santos said the Osmeña shrine forms part of Lahug and asked the council to rescind the contract between the city and the Evangelical Christian Coalition of Cebu Inc. since her barangay wasn’t consulted.
The Capitol also questioned why the city government would allocate 4.7 hectares of land to the cemetery when the shrine was intended to be part of a development into a park as cited in the compromise agreement between the city government and the Capitol.
Then there is the position of senior citizens groups who asked City Hall not to clear the trees that provides them with fresh air. The arguments continue on but in his typical hard-line position, former mayor and Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district isn’t budging.
All claims to pollution of groundwater are baseless, he said, even as he offered a compromise by promoting the installation of a columbary that would house the ashes of the dead to defuse fears of water pollution. But Osmeña is clearly not yielding.
It would be interesting to see what Mayor Michael Rama’s position is on this, given that he and Osmeña are not on speaking terms. Despite this, the fact that the residents don’t want the presence of the cemetery would have to be factored in and it is the burden of the Protestant group to win over these residents to their project.
One has to question how the group managed to convince Osmeña to allow them to build a cemetery within the shrine considering that the place is dedicated to the memory of his forebears and thus should be developed into a park.
Environmental and health authorities should examine the claims of the residents to see whether their fears are justified. Their evaluation may yet determine whether or not the project should see the light of day or be dropped altogether. The community’s health is the paramount concern.
