Ilocos Norte cemeteries close from Oct 29-Nov 4

Laoag City cemetery clean-up. Laoag City police station personnel and officials and BPATS of Brgys. 1, 2, 3, 58, 57 and 30B conduct a clean-up drive at the Laoag City north cemetery in preparation for the All Saints/Souls Days celebration. (Photo courtesy of PNP-Laoag)

By Leilanie G. Adriano (Staff Reporter)

LAOAG CITY–Following the guidelines issued by the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) on the observance of “undas”, a Filipino tradition of remembering the dead by going to the cemeteries and lighting up candles or offering prayers and flowers, Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Joseph M. Manotoc retracted his earlier pronouncement, saying they will now close all public and private cemeteries in the province from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, 2020.

In his latest Executive Order No. 96-20 posted on the evening of Oct. 8, 2o20 in the official social media page of the provincial government of Ilocos Norte, the governor said visiting hours for all public and private cemeteries, memorial parks and columbaria will be pre-scheduled starting Sept. 17 until Nov. 14, 2020 to avoid overcrowding.

Manned by joint personnel from the Philippine National Police, provincial health office, the local government unit and the barangay unit concerned, they will set up a triage in designated entrance and exit points of memorial establishments for body temperature screening and hand sanitation purposes. Based on COVID-19 health protocols, they will limit the entry of visitors to 30 percent capacity of the cemetery.

There will also be no selling of food, drinks, candles and flowers among others.

“While the provincial government fully respects the tradition of Ilocanos in paying respect to our departed loved ones, it is imperative to adopt the resolution in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and ensure strict observation of all applicable health protocols,” Mr. Manotoc explained.

As of this posting, many are now cleaning public and private cemeteries in the province in preparation for the observance of the All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day celebration.

Other local government units here have also started posting visiting schedules in their respective cemeteries for the information of the public.

Anyone found violating the order will be penalized under existing laws and ordinances.

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