The air at La Loma Cemetery grounds in Caloocan City carries a scent of cut grass and damp soil as caretakers scramble to finish tending graves amid light rain showers.
Grave caretakers have to finish their tasks ahead of the local government’s Oct. 31 deadline, or the eve of All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1.
Caloocan City Mayor Dale Malapitan said the order was put in place to prevent sharp objects used as cleaning implements inside the cemetery.
Caretakers in La Loma are tasked with regularly trimming the carabao grasses on the graves, as well as cleaning and repainting the tombstones.
They charge P2,000 for each grave, payable once a year.
Jay-r Santos, 36, said he is just halfway done cleaning around 50 graves assigned to him as of Thursday noon.
‘I was able to do more work when I was younger we can work on anything,’ Santos said, noting he slowed down as he got older. ‘But I have to do this for my family.’
On the other hand, Jaymar Samonte, 32, said he is mostly finished taking care of the graves assigned to him, totaling more than a hundred.
Samonte is being helped by his young nephew in cleaning the remaining 20 graves he has to tend as of Thursday noon.
‘I already trimmed the grass and painted the tombstones before this,’ he said. ‘I am just repeating it.’
Most of the caretakers’ clients are expected to visit La Loma Cemetery on Nov. 1.
Last year, the cemetery saw 60,000 visitors on Nov. 1, according to local police estimates.
The Catholic cemetery is also home to the Dambana ng Paghilom (Shrine of Healing), which serves as the resting place of several dozen victims of extrajudicial killings under former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.