Gatekeepers of lost souls

By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

R.I.P. or Rest in Peace is what we usually read on tombstones. But how will you rest in peace if until death your relatives are renting a space for your bones?

At the Manila North Cemetery, Lita Yao, secretary and interviewer of the relatives of the dead, enumerated four kinds of tombs rented out by the relatives. There is a one and a half meter deep bone crypt vault where one dead share a space with nine other dead for a fee of P1,000.

But if relatives of the dead prefer not to share a vault with others, they would need to pay P1,500 for a “VIP vault,” which has a contract that can be renewed every 5 years. On the other hand, the most common type of tomb is what they call an “apartment,” which is a niche that can be occupied for 5 years and costing P500.

Grave digger Johnjohn Sangalang said that as soon as the contract for an apartment expires, the bones of the dead are exhumed. If there are no claimants, the grave diggers would transfer the bones to a mass grave.

However, Sangalang said the bones are labeled to allow future identification. The tombstone is included with the bones, he said.

In an interview, Sangalang said he has gone beyond fearing the unknown as he buries a minimum of 10 bodies every day. At the most, he buries 60 dead especially during Saturdays and Sundays.

In the video interview I conducted with INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Marjorie Gorospe, Sanggalang narrates his life as the person in charge of keeping track of the tombstones and bones of the many individuals whose 5-year apartment contracts have expired.

We also meet Rommel Ocampo, a tombstone carver for many years now and talk to him about his work, and Roque Rafon, the caretaker of the graves of Jose Rizal’s family and the late President Manuel Roxas.

Ironic how the responsibility for caring for the remains of our loved ones are left to strangers like Sanggalang, Ocampo and Rafon. Nevertheless, these are a few of the already little group people who take pride in their role as the gatekeepers of the lost souls and lost bones.