5,000 new niches for dead in Manila North Cemetery

AP FILE PHOTO/BULLIT MARQUEZ

It’s literally niche marketing for the city of Manila.

Five thousand new niches for the dead were opened at the Manila North Cemetery on Monday, making it the cemetery’s first modern expansion since 1904.

The city government inaugurated the P90-million crypt and columbarium project, part of Mayor Joseph Estrada’s “from womb to tomb” program that aims to provide free services to the residents from birth to death.

“I hope through this project, we would be able to honor and pay respect to the dead by giving them a decent resting place,” Estrada said.

The finishing of the project coincided with the dramatic increase in the number of fatalities in the city as President Duterte’s war on drugs rages on.

Among the 16 cities in Metro Manila, the city of Manila has the highest number of killings, according to a report released by the National Capital Region Police Office in August.

Since July, the number of dead in North Cemetery has seen a “10-percent monthly increase,” according to the cemetery administrator, Dan Tan.

“This means that we used to have 500 dead a month. For the past three months, we have been receiving about 550 monthly,” he said.

The two building-type infrastructure were put up at the cemetery entrance.

The first is a four-story, apartment-type crypt that can accommodate 1,216 slots, according to the developer.

Beside it is the four-story columbarium that can hold 4,088 urns.

Estrada said the city was planning a similar expansion program in South Cemetery, which is located in Makati City.

Both North and South Cemeteries—both under the care of the Manila local government— are filled to capacity, he said.

‘Tourist spot’
The city government described the project as “world-class.” Manila’s tourism chief Liz Villaseñor is even planning on making it a “tourist spot.”

In her opening speech, Villaseñor said the city might replicate a cemetery in Japan, which is tourist spot, and would coordinate with Tan to make the project happen.

“Ordinary people were buried in that [Japanese] cemetery compared to [Manila North], where high-profile people were interred,” Villaseñor said before introducing Estrada. She was the program host for Monday’s event.

Built 112 years ago, North Cemetery is located in Santa Cruz district and is the resting place of key figures in Philippine history, including former Presidents Sergio Osmeña, Ramon Magsaysay and Manuel Roxas. Actor Fernando Poe Jr. was also buried here.

As years passed by, the cemetery became the main resting place for the poor, the unclaimed and the unidentified.

Estrada said any Manila resident could avail himself or herself of the free funeral and burial program. “But indigents are the priority,” the mayor said.