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CEBU CITY, Philippines - Police in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue on Sunday reported little in the way of untoward incidents during the observance of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) also noted that there was a decrease in turnout of cemetery visitors compared to last year.
Over the two-day holiday, CCPO arrested 10 persons for drunken behavior. One person was arrested for a stabbing incident in Barangay (village) Pardo, while a pickpocket was arrested in the Carreta Public Cemetery, said Senior Superintendent Patrocinio Comendador Jr., director of the CCPO.
Traffic enforcers also dealt with 10 traffic incidents.
Comendador said security cameras installed in the Carreta and Calamba public cemeteries as well as the Queen City Memorial Gardens and Cebu Memorial Park were effective in monitoring the cemetery-going crowd.
Comendador thanked the public for cooperating with police inspections to prevent the entry of weapons and liquor into cemeteries.
In Mandaue City, arrests were not the main concern, but an increasing awareness of problems at the city’s cemeteries: garbage, and plots becoming scarce.
Over 1,000 remains were buried in the Mandaue Cemetery alone, said Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna. With over 200,000 visitors cramped into cemeteries over the holidays, Fortuna said this showed that the city needed another cemetery.
Also, vendors should be reminded to clean up after themselves, Fortuna said.
The vice mayor said that for next year, vendors in cemeteries should give their assurance that they’ll pick up their own litter.
He also mentioned the need to regulate the use of electricity at the public cemetery in Barangay Guizo.
Over the weekend holidays, Mandaue police only arrested one person for drunken behavior, while help desks received three lost children, all of whom were eventually claimed by their parents.
