RELOCATION. Public cemetery vendors gather their things as they voluntarily demolish their stalls inside Bolonsory Memorial Park, a public cemetery in Cagayan de Oro City. The public cemetery will undergo rehabilitation and renovation. (Photo courtesy of CDO CIO)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - The city government on Tuesday called on vendors to dismantle their stalls inside the public cemetery here as groundwork for the initial phase of the area's redevelopment project will begin soon.
The city's local environmental and natural resources office (CLENRO) announced that the remaining vendors at the Bolonsory Memorial Park have until Wednesday, November 10, to take down their stalls.
In an interview with CLENRO chief Engr. Armen Cuenca said affected vendors will be provided with alternative livelihood and commercial spaces where they can put up their stalls.
He said informal settlers at the cemetery have also been asked to leave by the city housing and urban development section.
As of Monday, some 107 stalls and makeshift houses have been demolished.
Late last month, the city government has started the four-phase redevelopment project on the 19.8-hectare public cemetery at the cost of PHP367 million.
As the first step, CLENRO closed the cemetery from the All Souls' Day visit last week, and families whose loved ones were buried in the areas affected by the project have already been asked to start the process of having their loved ones transferred. Cuenca said almost half of the affected graves have already registered for the transfer.
"Deadline (for the claiming and transfer of the remains) will be on Nov. 14 at the site where the new crematorium building and columbarium will be constructed," Cuenca said.
He added that under the new project, some graves have to be relocated because of the additional facilities that will be built.
After the deadline, CLENRO will collect the unclaimed remains for safekeeping.
"After June 1, 2022, if there will be no more claimants on the remains, we will lay the unclaimed remains in an ossuary, with a giant cross," he said.
Rogelio Dosol, a cemetery staff born in Bolonsory in the 1970s, said he witnessed how the area was turned into a public cemetery in the 1980s. From then on, he said his neighbors started finding a living by selling candles and gravestones in the area.
Dosol said his vendor friends will have to find a temporary source of income until the project's completion on Nov. 1, 2025. (PNA)
