CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews / 20 October) —The city government here is closing its biggest, 39-year-old public cemetery, which was found to be “reeking with formaldehyde,” one of the chemicals used in embalming cadavers.
Engr. Armen Cuenca, chief of the Cagayan de Oro Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (CLENRO), said the 19.2-hectare Bolonsiri public cemetery will be closed.
According to him, “nothing can be done” with the nine hectares of the public cemetery as they are “overcrowded.”
“We are hoping that the natural filtration on the ground prevented the formaldehyde from damaging the water table in the surrounding community,” Cuenca said.
However, a 10-hectare alternate site within the Bolonsiri cemetery will be developed, complete with sewage treatment technology to prevent the formaldehyde from seeping to the ground once it becomes operational, he said.
The remains that will be dug out from the closed portion can be transferred to the new site, he added.
In its 2019 report, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said that formaldehyde, which is used in preserving dead bodies, has been seeping to the ground since Bolonsiri public cemetery started accepting the dead for burial in 1982.
Since it started operation, the DENR estimated that 1,000 bodies were buried every year at the cemetery.
The DENR report noted that three liters of formaldehyde are used to preserve a single dead body, which means that at least 3,000 liters or 18 drums of such chemical could be seeping to the ground annually.
The report said that formaldehyde can be hazardous, especially if it contaminates the groundwater.
“This area (Bolonsiri cemetery) has reached its maximum capacity. There is a need to redesign and develop it into a more efficient and environment-friendly memorial park,” the DENR report said.
Records from the Civil Registry Office in Cagayan de Oro showed that 5,680 burial permits have been issued from 2015 to 2019 for the Bolonsiri public cemetery.
Cuenca said the city government had no record of how many were buried between 1982 and 2015.
“Judging on how crowded the graves in this cemetery, we estimated that more than 50,000 are buried here,” Cuenca said.
He said the cemetery included the more than 1,000 residents who died of from COVID-19 since the pandemic started in 2020.
Cuenca said Patient No. 40, the first person who died of COVID-19 disease in Cagayan de Oro, is also buried at the Bolonsiri public cemetery.
Patient No. 40 and the other COVID-19 victims are buried on top of a hill overlooking the cemetery.
“We will not touch the graves of the COVID-19 victims. It is still too early,” he said.
Cuenca said the removal of the old graves will start as soon as the winning bidder, Jejor Construction Corporation, will be given the order to proceed by the city government, hopefully next month.
He said a columbarium where the bones of the dead will be stored would be constructed in the ten-hectare new cemetery.
Cuenca said that all the new graves would be sealed to prevent formaldehyde from seeping to the ground.
“Construction of the columbarium is expected to be finished by February 2022,” Cuenca said, adding the construction will be in phases.
This is the third time that the public cemetery in Cagayan de Oro would be transferred, according to local historian Nanette Roa.
She said the side of the St. Agustine Metropolitan Cathedral, where the Bishop’s residence now stands, was the location of the first public cemetery at the turn of the 20th century.
As Cagayan de Oro grew, Roa said the cemetery was transferred beside Xavier University along Hayes Street.
Roa said the cemetery along Hayes Street had two sections – for the Catholics and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente members.
She said the Bolonsiri public cemetery started accepting burials in 1982 during the term of then mayor and the late Senator Aquilino Pimentel.
Roa said it has two sections, one for Muslims and the other for Catholics and other Christian denominations. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
CDO to close biggest, ‘formaldehyde-reeking’ public cemetery
Source: Viral News Filipino
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