Hidden from view, the cemetery is a thriving city with vast and complex network of streets and alleys, tightly lined by tens of thousands of mausoleums and tombs. There are now basketball hoops, fast-food stalls serving snacks and cigarettes to the residents and those attending funerals or visiting loved ones. There are karaoke parlours, restaurants and even Internet cafes. Yet, this is still a fully functioning cemetery, with up to 80 funerals taking place each day.
Many of the cemetery residents have found work among the dead. Teenagers carry coffins for 50 Filipino pesos—about 50 American cents. Children collect scrap metal, plastic, and other garbage to sell. Others look over graves, keeping them clean and protecting them from robbers, who have been known to steal the bones and the ornaments off the tombs.
It is hard to know when the first people moved in. Those who arrived in the 1950s say there were already lots of residents by then. There appears to have been a population increase in the 1990s as the Philippines urbanized and migrants flocked to cities. As of 2012, an estimated 6,000 people live in the cemetery.
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=79211.0