MAKE no mistake about it.
Even drug suspects killed in police operations can be buried for free in Manila’s public cemeteries, especially at the newly built columbarium and apartment crypt at the Manila North Cemetery, Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada said on Friday.
Estrada said the city government did not discriminate on who could avail themselves of the city’s free burial services, and all the other social services being offered by the city government.
“As long as one is a resident of Manila, there is no discrimination,” Estrada said.
Estrada also said families of slain drug suspects were entitled to avail themselves of the columbarium service and the free burial package of the city government.
Estrada inaugurated last Monday the newly built P90-million columbarium and apartment crypt at the Manila North Cemetery that that has 4,088 niches for funeral urns and 1,218 tombs.
Built for Manila’s indigents, the columbarium and an apartment-type crypt were put up in a four-story building inside the city-owned cemetery.
Since Manila’s re-intensified anti-drug war and in the continued implementation of Oplan Tokhang and Oplan Double Barrel of the Philippine National Police, at least 200 drug suspects have been killed in the city during encounters with members of the Manila Police District.
Manila also has the most number of drug suspects arrested and voluntarily surrendered to the city police.
By police latest count, 500 were arrested and 10,000 have presented themselves to the police authorities during Oplan Tokhang operations.
Estrada noted that the 54-hectare Manila North Cemetery has reached its capacity, prompting the city government to construct a columbarium.
“All cemeteries are fully loaded. No more space. There is also no room for expansion, but up,” he said, noting it was the first major improvement done at the Manila North Cemetery since 1904.
Built in 1904, the Manila North Cemetery, or Cementerio del Norte, is one of the oldest and biggest cemeteries in Metro Manila.
Located in Manila’s Sta. Cruz area and bordered by La Loma Cemetery and the Manila Chinese Cemetery, it is the final resting place of key figures in Philippine history such as former Presidents Sergio Osmena, Ramon Magsaysay and Manuel Roxas as well as actor Fernando Poe Jr.
