City backs put up cemetery in Barangay Kias

City officials recently strongly supported the resolution of the incumbent officials of barangay Kias headed by punong barangay Timothy C. Pudlao, Jr. seeking the donation of a parcel of land within Proclamation NO. 1875 from the Philippine Guarantee Corporation to be used as a cemetery for its residents and waiver in favor of the said barangay.

In a resolution authored by Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan, local legislators stated that by virtue of the local legislative measure, the local government waives its right in favor of barangay Kias over the said parcel of land with the condition that the parcels of land subject of the donation shall only be used as a cemetery for the residents in the area.

Under the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of the Philippines, local government units shall exercise powers and discharge such other functions and responsibilities as are necessary, appropriate, or incidental for the efficient and efficient provision of the basic services and facilities, such as, but not limited to a public cemetery.

On July 25, 1979, former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr. signed Proclamation No. 1875 that declared as Bagong Lipunan sites certain parcels of land of the public domain in the city, island of Luzon where barangay Kias is one of the covered areas of the said Proclamation and there is a portion within its jurisdiction known as Mount Emerald being used as a cemetery of the barangay since the 1980s to date where about a hundred cadavers were already buried in the area.

The body stipulated that the portion of land where the cemetery was situated had an area of 20,000 square meters, more or less, and that the said area was declared as high risk by the Mines and Geosciences bureau, thus, the said area is not buildable and not feasible to construct residential housing structures in the area.

On November 6, 2021, Kias barangay officials passed a resolution requesting the Philippine Guarantee Corporation (PGC) to donate a portion of Proclamation 1875 to be used as a cemetery of Kias barangay.

PGC is a government-owned and controlled corporation created under Executive Order No. 58, series of 2018 which approved the merging of the Home Guarantee Corporation (HGC) and the Philippine Export – Import Credit Agency where one of its task is to administer the parcels of land of the public domain in the city covered by the aforesaid Proclamation.

The council pointed out that the approval by the PGC of the requested donation is for the common good, especially for the economically poor constituents of barangay Kias and will somehow decongest the city’s main public cemetery. – Dexter A. See