Families are protesting against unauthorized exhumations at the Marika cemetery

MANILA, Philippines. Family members of exhumed remains at the Baranka Municipal Cemetery in Marikina camped outside the cemetery’s administrative office on Friday to express concern over unauthorized exhumations.

Affected families said they were not informed of the exhumation, so they were surprised to find the graves of their dead either empty, without a headstone or with different names.

Marivik Bediko, a relative of one of the exhumed remains, expressed her frustration, saying she has no idea where her father’s remains are now.

“They were taking out the remains of our deceased family members, and mine was just ahead. They could write about it since I also live in a barangay. I am very sad because my father no longer has a tombstone there; it seems someone else is buried in that place,” Bediko told INQUIRER.net in an interview on Friday.

According to Bediko, her family lost the remains of three deceased relatives: a father, a sister and a niece.

The article continues after this advertisement

She also complained that she had paid a £100 maintenance fee last year and then found out that her family members’ remains had been exhumed and she did not know where they were now.

The article continues after this advertisement

However, according to a previous interview with local cemetery administrative officer Reynato Beltran, remains that exceed the five-year limit must be exhumed due to the cemetery’s capacity of 5,000 graves, and there are no options for renewal or retention.

However, in an interview on Wednesday, Barangay Municipal Cemetery Administrative Officer Reynato Beltran explained that remains that exceed the five-year limit must be exhumed due to the cemetery’s capacity of 5,000 graves, with no possibility of restoration or preservation.

READ: 800 bags of human remains were exhumed at the Marika public cemetery

Eddie Pelueta, another concerned family member, asked how the cemetery administration could ensure that the remains of their deceased would remain intact after the exhumation.

“How can we be sure they got it all mixed up? They could remove all the bones at once by simply piling them up and putting them in sacks. The worst part is that the skulls could have been mixed up with other bodies. The skull does not belong to one body,” Pelueta said in Filipino during an interview on Friday.

Like Bedico, Pelueta lost his late father’s remains after the exhumation.

“The family should have been informed before any exhumation. They should have informed us during our last visit,” he said in Filipino.

Officials from the Marikina City Health Office (CHO) have been dealing with the families since Friday morning, while the cemetery administration has yet to meet with them at the time of writing.

According to the CHO, they will first find the exhumed remains before handing them over to the concerned families.

Romulo Yagin, another person waiting in line for clarification, repeated the same answer in an interview: “They said that now no one is allowed to exhume the remains of their family members because only the city health department can approve it as it requires permission.”

During the one-on-one dialogue, CHO asked for Yahin’s contact number, assuring him that they would be in touch when his relative’s remains were found.

“They have a system of tags to identify which and whose remains the bones belong to. They will find them first before returning them,” Yahin added in Filipino.

However, he and other concerned family members argued that this was not enough to ensure that the remains of their dead remained intact after they were found.

“There is no guarantee that the remains can be claimed, and there is no guarantee that the remains in the tombs still belong to our relatives,” Yahin said in Filipino.

READ: Mayor of Marikina: A syndicate may be behind the excavation of the remains at the cemetery

Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro announced Friday that city officials have notified families whose remains of loved ones were illegally exhumed.

He also stated that local authorities are ready to offer free burial and cremation services for these remains.

Teodoro suspected that a syndicate might be behind the illegal exhumation of the remains at the Barangay Municipal Cemetery.