MANILA – Some 2.17 million people visited the Manila North and South cemeteries to pay respects to their dearly departed during the “Undas” (All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days) holidays, the city government said Monday.
In a statement, Mayor Honey Lacuna said the number of visitors to the two city-run cemeteries was logged from October 30 to November 3, attributed to the long weekend and fair weather.
North Cemetery had 1, 618, 530 visitors, with 1.1 million on November 1 alone.
The South Cemetery had 548, 627 visitors, with 438, 500 on November 1.
At the same time, the mayor reported that less trash was collected inside cemeteries this year.
“Ngayong taon, umabot lamang sa 104 truckloads ng basura ang nakolekta sa mga sementeryo. Mas mababa ito sa 107 truckloads na nakolekta noong nakaraang taon. Nakabuti rin sa garbage management na nirelocate natin ang mga pwesto ng vendors para mas maging maayos ang daloy ng mga tao papasok at palabas ng mga sementeryo (This year, we only had 104 truckloads of garbage collected from the cemeteries. This is lower than the 107 truckloads we collected last year. The relocation of the vendors’ area contributed to garbage management and to the orderly flow of people entering and leaving these cemeteries),” she added.
Lacuna said the city government called for visitors to adopt the “Clean As You Go” (CLAYGO) policy, which she said would also be implemented next year.
She said the policy would also be enforced for the holiday season and the Feast of the Black Nazarene in January 2025.
“Our benchmark is the Japanese way of cleanliness habits and courtesy to others. We will strive for that. Eventually, the cleanliness and waste etiquette habits will become well-ingrained,” she added. (PNA)