DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has ordered the temporary closure of the Tagakpan Public Cemetery in Tugbok District for development and modernization purposes.
Duterte-Carpio issued Executive Order (EO) No. 7 on February 9, 2021, the order closing Tagakpan for burials in preparation for the cemetery's development and modernization, which took effect immediately.
She said the closure will fast track the implementation of the project.
"There is a need for the development and modernization of the Tagakpan Public Cemetery to accommodate burials, particularly in the Third District that is decent and affordable since the City-owned and operated Public Cemeteries are already congested and there is already a shortage of burial grounds," the mayor said in the EO.
The order stated that the Tagakpan Cemetery is the "most ideal City-owned public cemetery to be developed and modernized patterned after the rehabilitated Wireless Public Cemetery."
The mayor said despite the rehabilitation efforts done at Wireless, it has been observed that there were still existing problems with the cemetery that needed to be improved.
Duterte-Carpio said the city government had already allocated funds for Tagakpan's development and modernization, which will be implemented in two phases.
The City Economic Enterprise (CEE) is the agency tasked with the administration, operation and maintenance of all City-owned and operated public cemeteries.
Section 2 of the states that CEE, after inspection and monitoring, will furnish its report to the Davao City Cemetery Board. It will be done in the next scheduled monthly regular board meeting.
Duterte-Carpio, in March 2020, said during the early days of the pandemic that the local government has prepared a mass burial site for those who will die to Covid-19 in Tagakpan, Davao City in case the health crisis worsens.
