Aired (October 28, 2023): Tila evicted sa kani-kanilang nitso ang ilang labi ng mga taong ito sa isang sementeryo sa North Caloocan matapos pag-aalisin. Ang dahilan, walang pambayad ang mga kaanak ng namatay. Makatarungan nga ba ang ganitong sistema?
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00What if your child's grave was removed and left out of the grave?
00:12What if it was just left out and neglected?
00:19Some people are forced to remove the coffin
00:22because of the lack of money to pay for the funeral.
00:30The government is trying to find a way to pay for the funeral.
00:44What is the government doing to pay for the funeral?
00:50In Tala Cemetery in North Caloocan,
00:53some are preparing for the funeral.
00:56They are painting the coffin and cleaning the surroundings.
01:02But the 20-year-old Ray Oriendo
01:05and his son-in-law Melba Codera
01:08have a different agenda today.
01:11Don't move them.
01:12Why?
01:13Remove the bones.
01:14If the rain is heavy, we won't be able to carry them.
01:18There's a sick-iter on the 4th floor.
01:21Melinda Oriendo.
01:24Because Ray's mother, Melinda Oriendo,
01:27has been buried for 5 years in her apartment in Micho,
01:31Ray needs to remove the bones
01:34and move his mother to another grave.
01:37But he doesn't have money to pay for Micho's renewal.
01:42When Micho was still young,
01:44the burial place was next to the cemetery.
01:47It was a funeral.
01:49Ray was forced to pay for the funeral.
01:52He was forced to pay for the funeral.
01:55He was forced to pay for the funeral.
01:58He was forced to pay for the funeral.
02:01He was forced to pay for the funeral.
02:04The burial place was next to the cemetery.
02:07He was forced to pay for the funeral.
02:09He was forced to pay for the funeral.
02:19It's so hard for me to see you like this.
02:23If I don't move, you'll remove the bones
02:27and throw them away.
02:29If I don't move, you'll throw them away.
02:35After removing Ray's mother's bones,
02:38Ray's family went to a skeleton vault.
02:51They laid the sack,
02:53poured cement and hollow blocks,
02:56and closed it.
02:58This is Ray's mother's new grave.
03:04When he was buried in 2018,
03:06where was he buried?
03:08He was buried at the end.
03:10He was still being watered.
03:12What kind of water?
03:14Was there a fee?
03:15Yes, there was a fee.
03:17Was there a time limit?
03:19Yes, up to five years.
03:21Up to five years?
03:22Yes, up to five years.
03:23Was that all you could afford at that time?
03:26Yes, that was all we could afford.
03:29We still have a balance of 1,500 pesos.
03:34So you still owe 1,500 pesos?
03:36Yes.
03:37And we still have to pay another fee for the apartment.
03:43Ray used to save up 3,000 pesos for a five-year loan
03:48for the apartment in Nitsho.
03:51It was 4,000 pesos.
03:55They reduced it to 1,000 pesos.
03:59They gave you a discount?
04:01Yes.
04:02What did you do to save that money?
04:06I budgeted for food every day.
04:11You reduced the amount of food?
04:13Yes.
04:16In public cemeteries,
04:18these are called apartments.
04:21You have to pay 3,000 pesos.
04:23But that 3,000 pesos is for you to bury your loved ones
04:28within five years.
04:30You have to remove the grave after five years
04:34because if not, it will be placed next to the cemetery.
04:37Another option, like what Ray did,
04:40after five years, he moved his mother's grave
04:45to the so-called skeleton vault.
04:48But it costs 100 pesos per year.
04:53Ray hopes that one day,
04:55he will be able to give his mother a nice grave.
05:01Why does my mother have to be buried in a skeleton vault?
05:04Why is it important to you that the treatment is good,
05:11that it should not be in a skeleton vault,
05:13that the burial should be good?
05:16Of course, I owe a lot to my mother.
05:20But I can't give it to her.
05:22I can't give it to my mother.
05:24I will give her a nice grave
05:29when the time comes.
05:34Ray is afraid that what will happen
05:36will take away his mother's bones
05:38and place them elsewhere.
05:41The caretaker, Florita Asildo,
05:43has been witnessing for weeks
05:45that gay people are not paid by the government.
05:48She has been a caretaker for more than three decades
05:51in this cemetery.
05:54She showed me where the bones are placed
05:57that were not returned by the relatives
06:00five years ago.
06:02This is the mass vault.
06:04This is the mass vault.
06:06So, this is where the unclaimed family remains are placed?
06:11After five years.
06:13For example, now,
06:16they are looking for their son, Ondas.
06:19They are still claiming him because he is still up there.
06:22After two years,
06:26if they still don't claim him,
06:28he will fall inside.
06:29So, they are already mixed up.
06:31Yes, they are already mixed up.
06:32So, there is a hole above?
06:34Yes, there is a hole above.
06:35He will fall inside.
06:36He will fall inside.
06:37Yes.
06:39It is not allowed to climb the mass vault
06:41because its walls are slippery and high.
06:43So, a team used a drone
06:45and this is what we saw.
06:51Almost 100 skeletons
06:54or human bones
06:55are placed inside the vault
06:57next to their tombstone.
07:01Those are the remains of the abandoned people
07:04in the apartment.
07:05Those who were not claimed by their relatives
07:07after five years in the apartment.
07:10The bones are placed above this vault.
07:13The families are given three years
07:15to claim the remains.
07:17Then, if they still don't claim him,
07:19within three years,
07:21the bones will fall inside the mass vault.
07:25They are already mixed up inside the hole.
07:27They also don't know
07:29what their identity is.
07:31The family, for example,
07:34they will just hide there.
07:38That's how it is.
07:39We just learned that
07:41maybe he fell inside
07:43because he didn't want to go.
07:45According to the Philippine Statistics Authority,
07:4884% of the 1,700 Filipinos
07:50who die every year
07:52are already in debt
07:54and have to pay for the hospital.
07:56That's why the cost of burial
07:58and death registration
08:00is already P150.
08:01The cheapest burial
08:03will start at P8,000
08:05and the lowest cost
08:07of burial in a public cemetery
08:09is P5,000.
08:14This is the current problem
08:16faced by Jericho and Angelica Casiano.
08:19Their first child, John Paul,
08:21was born
08:23after he was born on October 20.
08:26He was already released.
08:28It only took a second.
08:30We came back at 7 p.m.
08:33The doctor told us
08:35that the baby was already in the morgue.
08:37I was surprised.
08:39He was already in the morgue.
08:41We didn't see him crying.
08:45Jericho didn't spend anything
08:47for the hospital.
08:48But for the burial of baby John Paul,
08:50it cost P6,000
08:53and P3,600
08:55for the burial.
08:57Because it was tight,
08:59they borrowed money
09:01to give a proper burial
09:03for their son.
09:05When the baby was about to be released,
09:07we bought some things.
09:09It was about P1,000.
09:15Everything.
09:17When the baby was released,
09:21we paid P3,000
09:23to get the certificate.
09:27We only gave P2,000.
09:29We had a balance of P4,000.
09:31We just borrowed the rest
09:34to bury the baby.
09:36For the P3,600
09:39that was to be paid for the cemetery,
09:41in a small apartment
09:43where Jericho buried
09:45the remains of baby John Paul,
09:54they still don't have a budget
09:56for the painting and the tombstone.
09:58But they still want to give
10:00a proper burial for their son.
10:02We just want to transfer the money
10:06to a proper place
10:10for him to live a long life.
10:12That's all we want.
10:14We want him to live a long life.
10:21According to the Philippine Statistics Authority,
10:2484% of the 1,700 Filipinos
10:27who die every year
10:29are in debt due to hospital bills.
10:31So some of them
10:33don't have the money
10:35to pay for the burial.
10:37So they are forced
10:39to leave their loved ones
10:41in small and cramped cemeteries.
10:49It's painful to lose a loved one.
10:53But losing money is even more painful
10:55if you don't have the money
10:57to give them a proper burial.
11:01With the help of the government,
11:03we hope to give those in need
11:05proper dignity and value.
11:09I'm Mackie Pulido,
11:11and this is the Reporter's Notebook.
11:25For more information, visit www.fema.gov