SOME 300 houses in the city cemetery in Bolonsiri, Camaman-an are set to be demolished as the City Government of Cagayan de Oro plans to rehabilitate and turn the decades-old cemetery into a City Memorial Park in 2020.
Sol Mosqueda, focal person of the City Memorial Park Development said, 300 houses were illegally built inside the 19-hectare public cemetery.
"Karon nga kalag-kalag is an opportunity for us to intensify our awareness campaign sa mga namuyo diha nga maghinay-hinay ug balhin para makasugod na ta sa cemetery rehabilitation," Mosqueda said.
The city will start to build a fence around the property as soon as the development project kicks off in January 2020.
Mosqueda, meanwhile, assured that affected families will be provided with a relocation site and a public consultation will be conducted before the project is implemented.
"Nanawagan mi karon sundon nato ni kay igo ra man pud nato giimplementar ang balaod," she said.
The City Cemetery Development Board will tap the University of Science and Technology of the Philippines (USTP) for the new design of the City Memorial Park.
The design will ensure that the cemetery would comply with standards and would be environment-friendly, too.
Mosqueda said eventually, all the public cemeteries in the city will undergo rehabilitation. The city government is set to standardize burial practices as implemented by
other highly-urbanized cities.
"Maistoryahan pud ang possible innovations nga pwede himuon kay dako ang syudad so we have to adopt to the growth of the city. We have to sudy more good practices sa other highly-urbanized areas," she added.
