Weird weather displaces even Malabon’s dead

You know the weather has really gone weird when it disturbs even the dead.

Authorities are blaming the heavy rains and “tornado-like” winds for the collapse of two “apartment-type” tombs at Tugatog Public Cemetery in Malabon City on Friday.

The damage exposed cadavers interred only about two weeks ago, said Dr. Rommel Lizan, chief of the city’s health office, quoting the cemetery caretakers.

“We applied disinfectant on the bodies, covered them up, and moved them to two vacant tombs for temporary burial while we notify the families,” Lizan told the Inquirer in an interview.

“We prioritized the sanitation of the two bodies and the area so we can minimize the effects of their exposure,” Lizan said, noting that the incident seemed to be unprecedented in the cemetery.

Bong Padua, chief of the Malabon public information office, said the local government learned of the damage  after strong winds and heavy rains battered much of the flood-prone city early Friday.

The Tugatog cemetery itself, however, was not yet flooded, he said.

“Apparently, the continuous rains and tornado-like winds (parang ipo-ipo) weakened the foundations,” Padua said in Filipino. “And perhaps the tombs were also shabbily built.” Nathaniel R. Melican