By Jade C. Zaldivar
With the impending entry of three memorial parks to be established over Dumoy aquifer and its vicinity, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said she would not allow said cemeteries to dig on the ground in burying the deceased.
Instead, she is amenable to compartment-type cemeteries.
“Wala nay mag-lubong ug mag-kalot. Tanan sa taas lang (No digging. Everything should be above the ground),” Duterte-Carpio said during a media briefing.
However, this proposal still needs to be discussed as to whether it will be successful in protecting the aquifer, she said.
“Kung musulti and DCWD (Davao City Water District) nga walay problema then mas maayo (If the DCWD says there’s no problem with this, then good)” she added.
The city mayor also stressed that the proposals for memorial parks in Dumoy still need to undergo the scrutiny of the City Council and comply with the regulations set by the DCWD.
“There are regulations as to the distance of the location to the areas identified by the DCWD as an aquifer area,” she said.
Three memorial parks are being proposed to be established over the Davao City’s biggest source of drinking water –the Dumoy aquifer and its vicinity.
One of three proposed cemeteries is the Fair Fields Memorial Park (FFMP), which applied for a six-hectare property owned by Francis Ledesma, a top hotel executive, in Barangay Baliok.
The proposal is currently being discussed at the City Council.
The other two proposed cemeteries are the Eternal Gardens Memorial Park owned by a cooperative on a 1.6-hectare land in Barangay Lubogan and the Forest Lake Memorial Park in sitio Ulas in Barangay Talomo.
The proposal of FFMP is being opposed by various groups led by the barangay council of Dumoy under Dr. Jess Mar Culaste, and the United Residents and Homeowners Association of Dacoville, Inc. (Urhadi) led by Conrado Vidanes.
According to Ricardo Jimenez Jr., secretary of Urhadi, all three proposed commercial cemeteries are on top of the water resource area encompassing Baliok, Dumoy, Bago, Puan and Ulas where 39 of 54 production wells of the Davao City Water District are located.
“There is no such thing as Baliok water, Lubogan water, Ulas water, or Bago water; everything is Dumoy water, which is reputed to be the best in the world, second only to The Netherlands,” said Jimenez , an active officer of the Davao Historical Society.
The FFMP proposal now sits with the committee on environment and natural resources led by Councilor Marissa Salvador-Abella.
