‘Circle’ offers resting place for missing dead

MANILA, Philippines — Relatives who can no longer locate or visit their dead have a place to remember them at the Manila North Cemetery.

Under the bright afternoon sun and the hot and humid weather of All Saints’ Day, some families who visited the 54-hectare burial park offered flowers and lit candles at the so-called “circle,” located a few meters from the entrance.

The flowers and molten candles were placed near the statue of Jesus and a recreation of the “Pieta.”

Cherry Chan, in her late 40s who came from Quezon City, offered a candle at the Pieta statue for her father, who was previously buried in the Manila North Cemetery in 2001 but could no longer be found.

Her family was surprised to find another dead buried at the tomb where her father was supposedly buried, just four years after his death, she recalled.

As far as she could remember, her father’s tomb was found along 14th Avenue where the late movie actor and National Artist for Film Fernando Poe Jr. and his wife Susan Roces were buried.

By lighting a candle at the circle, she also offered a prayer for her father, said Chan.

“This is the only time I’ve visited the cemetery again. I don’t know, perhaps he is reminding me to visit him, that’s why we are here,” she said.

The family of Estrella de Lima from Sta. Mesa, Manila also lit candles for their dead at the circle just after they visited the graves at the cemetery.

The candles were for their relatives in Mindanao, particularly her grandparents and an uncle that they could no longer visit, she said.

Around the circle, one can also find tombstones of humans, as well as pets whose names and breeds were indicated.

The circle was transformed into a mass grave when the current administration of the Manila North Cemetery took over in 2019, said cemetery staff Obet Ocampo.

Unclaimed remains, as well as those taken out of their apartment-type and solo tombs after surpassing the five-year lease period, were buried in underground vaults made in the circle, he explained.

Some visitors had to be attended by medical personnel from the Manila city government after their blood pressure shot up, while others fainted amid the heat and the crowding in the walkways along