MANILA -- An official of the Archdiocese of Manila has confirmed ownership by the church of a portion of the “Campo Cristo de Novaliches” or old municipal cemetery in the Diocese of Novaliches, which is divided between Quezon City and Caloocan City.
Antonio Ramirez, manager of the Properties Administration Department of the Manila Archdiocese, said that although the church-owned section of the cemetery is now under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Novaliches, the title of the property is still under the name of the mother archdiocese, which is Manila.
Prior to the creation of the Diocese of Novaliches by the Vatican in December 2002, Novaliches was under the Archdiocese of Manila together with its sister dioceses of Cubao, Caloocan, Pasig, and Parañaque, which were born one after the other between 2002 and 2003, or during the incumbency of Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, who died on June 21, 2005.
In a text message to Reynaldo Estrella, president of the “Kasamahan” or “Samahan para sa panghabang panahong paggamit ng lupa sa sementeryo” (association for the perpetual use of cemetery lots), Ramirez said the Archdiocese of Manila is now taking steps to transfer the title of the church-owned property to the Diocese of Novaliches headed by Bishop Antonio R. Tobias.
“We are going to hire an independent geodetic engineer to make a verification survey of the subject property, the title of which is in the name of the Archdiocese of Manila. Then we will discuss the results of the survey with the Quezon City Planning and Development Office,” Ramirez said.
In a telephone interview on Thursday, Ramirez declined the request of this writer to provide the Philippine News Agency (PNA) with a xerox copy of the title to the cemetery lot.
Meanwhile, Estrella, an engineer, clarified that no dismantling of tombs or mausoleums in the church-owned portion of the cemetery was done in the past eight years.
He said that the destruction of tombs and mausoleums only took place in the portion of the Quezon City government-administered public cemetery located near Gen. Luis St. at the boundary of Barangay San Agustin and Novaliches Proper.
Estrella also said that what they are questioning is the non-issuance of burial permits for the church-owned or private portion of the cemetery by the QC Civil Registry Office for about 10 years now.
“This not supposed to happen, since it is a clear violation of our rights,” he said.
Families of those buried in the dismantled tombs and mausoleums earlier assailed the action of the QC Civil Registry Office, saying such move constituted a desecration of the memories of their departed loved ones. (PNA)
