(A sign in front of public cemetery restricts residents from entering without first getting clearance from a group of men at the entrance area. Photo by Armand Galang)
TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija – Kin of some 1,500 buried in a 1.5-hectare portion of the public cemetery in Poblacion here are in quandary as scions of the former land-owner fenced the area with barbed wire and reportedly require them to pay P5,000 per square meter for the graves.
This, even as residents are being charged P400 to be acknowledged as relatives of the dead and to be able to visit and clean the graves in time for All Saints’ Day, according to former Mayor Manolito Fausto.
“Ang lumalabas, parang naho-hostage ang mahigit-kumulang na 1,500 na nakalibing sa pambayang libingan namin dahil sa ngayon po ay nakaikot ng barbed wire yung buong libingan namin,” he said. “Karamihan ay hindi makapaglinis at yung nagsasabi na may-ari daw sila ng lupa ay naniningil ng tila P5,000 per square meter.”
Fausto said the municipal government has started to develop the area as extension of the public cemetery upon donation of its original owner, a certain Maximo Tumibay, sometime in the 1960s and had been used as such since.
“Paano na yung mga walang kakayanang magbayad? Hindi na ba nila mabibisita ang kanilang mga yumaong kamag-anak?” he asked.
But Rommel Tumibay, one of Maximo’s grandsons, said the lot was never donated to the municipal government noting the latter cannot provide any document to back up such claim.
“Nakatitulo dun sa lolo ko, e di nakamatayan na nga niya, Me nagpadala ng tax declaration sa ‘min na intact pa pala itong lupa namin dahil binerify namin sa Register of Deeds (RD) e intact pa pala dun ke Maximo Tumibay, sa lolo namin itong lote na ito na 13,800 square meters ngayon nagbayad kami ng tax,” he said.
Tumibay denied collecting entry pass fee but insisted right to collect.
This was followed by the issuance to them of second owner’s copy and transfer of ownership through extra judicial settlement, he added.
Mayor Nerivi Santos-Martinez said they have filed before a local court an injunction case against the Tumibays as she maintained claims the lot has been properly donated to the government. “Simula noon hanggang ngayon ang gamit niya ay public cemetery,” she said.
The court has yet to rule on the case, it was learned.
