Davao City's Public Cemeteries In Urgent Need Of Rehab

Davao City's public cemeteries are so overcrowded the city needs to shell out a minimum of P10 million for every hectare of cemetery land that would be rehabilitated.

There are nine public cemeteries in the city but it is still not enough to accommodate the city's requirement. The city is eyeing the development of a 2.3 hectare lot in Tagakpan, Calinan District but the road opening alone cost P275,000 and the cemetery development costs P2 million.

Davao City Economic Enterprise chair Francisco Vales, Jr. said the city's cemeteries are already overloaded and he hopes that next year's annual development plan will already include the proposed budget for the rehabilitation.

The rehabilitation work still does not have a definite date, he said, but the Wireless public cemetery near the downtown area will undergo rehabilitation first. He also said the rehabilitation work should be simultaneous with the construction of the proposed crematorium as the latter would help maximize the cemetery spaces.