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From the Cavite town that fields a squad of abanico-equipped gay traffic enforcers comes a new public cemetery that pays special attention to the LGBT community.
When a generous soul donated some 23 hectares of land to the local government of Rosario Cavite to use as a public cemetery, the public officials decided to play it fair.
They gave one hectare each to the 20 barangays of Rosario, “and then we allotted two hectares of apartment-type nichos for the gays and the lesbians and then one hectare for Muslims,” explains Sid Luna Samaniego, the media relations officer of the municipality of Rosario.
The local government has quite the plans for the LGBT section, which they’ve labeled ‘Ikatalo,’ to stand for “third sex”. The plan is to build two hundred niches that will be pained pink for gay men and rainbow for lesbians. Of the 200 hundred, 72 graves are ready.
What’s more, their headstones will bear both their given names and the ones that they chose to use in their daily lives. “For example, a person’s name on his birth certificate would read Antonio but he preferred to be called Antonette. The engraving on the lapida would read Antonio ‘Antonette’ de la Cruz. The same goes for the lesbians who want to use their male-sounding names.” Samaniego says adding that this is not common practice with other memorial services.
The services are free, by the way, from the coffin to the flowers, all the way to the burial. The departed is escorted to the cemetery by a marching band called Musiko, a funeral tradition in Cavite, along with traffic enforcers assigned by the local government. “This is the same with all the other indigent residents of the barangays. We set a budget of PHP15,000 for the funeral rites of the deceased.”
But here’s the deal: When Coconuts Manila visited the site recently, all the 72 graves are still empty. “Walang gusto mauna,” Sid Samaniego tells us.
The move has been lauded by noted LBGT residents like Professor Arnel Laparan, voted as Reader’s Digest Featured Hero in 2009 for his work on educating street children. “He is happy that gays and lesbians are given importance in the municipality where he grew up,” Samaniego relays.
With the special attention he gives to the LGBT community, Mayor Jose “Nonong” Ricafuente’s sexuality has of course been questioned. But Samaniego just laughs it off. “We simply believe in helping people live more productive lives and assisting them in their needs no matter their orientation or status in life. Madalas kasi, may talent sila pero hindi nabibigyan ng halaga. We want everybody to be a part of society and to harness their talents para walang tamad at walang pasaway.”
Photos courtesy of Municipality of Rosario, Cavite
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