warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
About 50,000 destitute Filipinos call a Manila cemetery home. They say it’s safe and quiet,
and the neighbors are nothing to be afraid of.
A huge Cemetery in the middle of Manila,
and at the same time one of the bizarre communities in the world .
Because here two thousands families
cook ,sleep, and live next to and above and even directly in the graves.
Nowhere else are life and death as close together as in this cemetery.
But how exactly does one live in the mids of all the dead?
For one day we move into the cemetery and experiences incredible traditions.
Is it a doll or a make over?
Our journey takes us to the Philippines more precisely to the capital Manila, the island state is a country of contrast.
Holiday paradis on the one hand.
Poverty and extreme overpopulation on the other.
Especially in the capital Manila, too many people.
Too little space.
The last resort when looking for a place to live.
The cemetery.
The notorious North cemetery is located in the middle of Manila .
It has enormous dimensions, 2000 families are said to live in an area the size 70 football fields surrounded by thousands of graves.
Unlike our country , death is not a taboo subject here.
Which probably has to do with the extrem faith of the Filipinos.
80 % are strict catholics, but their idea of allowing the dead to rest in piece is different from ours.
Living space and graveyard merge seamlessly as is the case with most graveyard dwelers.
It cost 2.000 pesos a month,the equivalent of 40 euros
the administration only tolerates the families who work as grave diggers in the cemetery,
They don’t have to pay rent, but they have to sleep among the dead…
In the hallway discover three more crypts.
and in the living room as well , two people lie buried.
There is no running water in the cemetery, one kilometer away from the cemetery.
80 liters cost the equivalent of 4 cents, life in the cemety is difficult nevertheless families everyday life is hardly any different from that of many filipino women.
Exhumations are an everyday occurrence for gravediggers.
The body has to be reburied for the gravediggers normality for us a real taboo subject.
Space is scarce in the cemetery too, tomorrow a new coffin will already occupy this grave.
So now he’s picking out the last bones so that the body can be re- buried with dignity.
well, with dignity in a plastic bag.
The remains finally end up in a mass grave, here the gravediggers embed the bag in concrete for the coming decades.
Some people pay money to take care of their relatives graves, although the rent for a grave is just six euros a year , many bereaved families cannot afford it.
That’s why the cemetery residents have come up with some unusal to support poor families, we have to go to the cemetery wall.
The entrance is only open during the day.
The bizarreness of what awaits us there is almost unparalleled.
Is that a doll or a corps? The latter
And things gets even stranger right next to the coffin ,a games being played and there seems to be a lot of money at stake.
The boy’s family can’t afford a funural that’s why they are playing for money here, the proceeds are for the relatives.
The boy died of preumonia five days ago,
since then his body has been lying here at 30 degrees in the shade.
By tomorrow they should finally have collected enough money and then he’ll be buried.
A hut on the cemetery wall has caught fire, the flames are threatening to spread,
A short circuit on an electricity cable is the the cause.
Because of the high electricity prices , many Filipinos illegally tap into power lines , these improvised cable repeatedly thrigger devastating fires.
This time thay get away with it.
The fire brigade arrived which was able to prevent the fire spreading to the other huts, they’ ve been really lucky this time.
There’s a new grave where they exhumed a body at noon today because tomorrow another dead person will arrive who ‘ll be lying here for the next five years.
Around noon the mourners arrive, the relatives of the deceased.
When the mourners have left we can admire the gravestone.
And after 24 hours in the cemetery the time to say goodbye has arrived.
Living with the dead is very strange for us but the people here have a completely different relationship to their deceased than we do , and it’s trueto say that the people living here are much better off than those in Manila slums.