Antiqueños flock to cemeteries for peaceful 'Undas'
Posted: 2024-Nov-02 12.00 +0800
PEACEFUL. Personnel of the Sibalom Municipal Police Office ensure public security at the entrance of the Sibalom Municipal Cemetery on Friday (Nov. 1, 2024). Antique Provincial Police Office Information Officer Lt. Col. Willy Diel said they closely monitored the situation at the 52 cemeteries in Antique. (PNA/Annabel Consuelo J. Petinglay)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Antique Provincial Police Office (APPO) is eyeing zero major incidents related to All Saints' and All Souls' Day observance just like last year.
APPO Information Officer Lt. Col. Willy Diel said in an interview on Friday that the provincial police force led by Director Col. Lea Rose Peña had been supervising the situation of the 52 cemeteries in Antique and there had been no major untoward incident reported.
"The 1,000 police personnel deployed reported early to their assigned cemeteries to establish their Police Assistance Desks (PADs) and ensure that there will be a peaceful and orderly observance," Diel said.
He said that the traffic build-up along the roads leading to the cemeteries is also being managed well by the police with the help of barangay officials and traffic enforcers.
He said that personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection, Department of Public Works and Highways, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), and the Municipal DRRMO are also assisting the police.
Meanwhile, 64-year-old Susan Luces, one of the earliest to visit the Egaña Public Cemetery in Barangay Egaña, Sibalom town, said in an interview that she purposely allotted time to visit the tombs her departed husband and parents as her way of honoring them.
"Although my husband and parents are long gone, but I want to show them that they are never forgotten," she said.
She said that she would also request their Roman Catholic priest to bless their tombs and pray for their eternal rest. (PNA)