A variety store inside the Manila North Cemetery also doubles as a residence for this family. Notice the niche which is being used as a working table. (Photo by PINGGOT ZULUETA)

So you thought travelers to the Philippines only think of beaches, whale sharks, caves and rice terraces?

Think again. I’ve met some unusual travelers who want to get off the tourist trail.

One place that’s out of the guidebooks and in their itinerary is the North Cemetery. While this place may strike you at first as odd, amateur photographer Lucas Klamert of Vienna, Austria finds it a good place to take shots.

Other than photography, tourists visit cemeteries for their history, horticulture, architecture and celebrity stargazing among famous dead people.

In some cities, these final destinations have become popular tourist destinations. The most popular turned out to be Paris’ Pere Lachaise. The 118-acre graveyard is the resting place of Oscar Wilde, Frédéric Chopin, Edith Piaf, Marcel Proust, and Jim Morrison. The cemetery has been widely imitated as a model for all the rural cemeteries built in the United States from 1831 onwards.

Jon Berendt, author of the books Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and City of Falling Angels, said that although cemeteries are places where we bury the dead, “they are a living representation of the culture and the history” and “a spiritual link to the past.” Berendt advised tourists, “If you really want to get into the history, the people and the famous families, go to the cemetery.”

In the case of the Hanging Coffins or the ancient burial sites in Sagada, people will learn of our ancient burial customs.

Even non-tourists frequent the cemeteries. History shows that in the 19th century, before the onset of public parks, people visited the cemeteries for leisure as families spent the day relaxing and eating in the tranquil landscape.

But the North Cemetery draws a different kind of family and tourist. They are not fans of a charismatic rock star and neither are they going for a picnic.

It was unusual for me, a local, to find the setup inside so I would imagine the scale of surprise among the foreigners.

Enter the World of the Undead.

On a hot summer day with temperatures hitting 36 degrees Celsius, Hermogenes Solivan was taking his afternoon nap lying on a cold marble tomb.

Hermogenes is one of the 10,000 Filipinos who take up residence at the North Cemetery.

The Manila North Cemetery has evolved from a resting place for the dead to a place where the living and the dead co-exist.

And it’s not the Judgment Day.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Bizarre Foods Host Andrew Zimmern, in his travel channel blog, described the contrast of the rich and the poor in Manila as “…the Manila where there is more sadness, poverty, pollution and traffic than almost any other place in the world that I have ever visited. Or the Manila where the privileged elite live behind walled compounds with private mercenaries guarding them and spend their days working in high-rise office towers and their afternoons shopping at Prada. Amazing world we live in.”

This big disparity could be seen among the living and deceased residents of North Cemetery.

For foreigners interested to enter the North Cemetery on foot, Grzegorz Komar of Warsaw Poland advised that they get a special permit from the Manila Health Department. Otherwise, they should take a tricycle or a cab to avoid being reprimanded.

The Manila North Cemetery is considered the biggest and one of the oldest cemeteries in Metro Manila. It has been the final resting place of some of the Philippine’s rich and famous personalities including three Philippine Presidents. Some of the structures are lavishly adorned with kitchens and bathrooms inside air-conditioned mausoleums. The mausoleums show the socio-economic status of the family. Those who can afford, hire caretakers to look after their mausoleums. 

Seventy-eight-year-old Hermogenes Soliman was one of the earliest caretakers and residents. He said when electricity was first installed in 1970, people lost their fear and started moving in. Some built makeshift homes in the burial sites of their departed family members. In the case of Hermogenes, he has lived there since birth and continued his father’s work as a caretaker. The cemetery is the only home he has come to know - growing up with his siblings there and raising his children and grandchildren in that same resting place. 

Soliman claims not all residents are that poor. Moody Diaz, a comedian in the 70s, was a resident of North Cemetery. She did not move out even when she became an actress. There are also residents who have their own motorcycles. There’s even one who works in the Administrative Office and owns a car.

But mostly are. With the global economic crisis and with the high apartment rentals, an increasing number of families have called the cemetery their home.

Lesser Evil

Soliman claims he has never seen a ghost at the cemetery. In fact, many of the residents say that inside the cemetery, the creatures to be feared are not the ghosts. The growing number of new residents, some of which are criminals, has made the cemetery less peaceful and safe. Incidents of gold plated crucifix and nameplates missing have been reported. Soliman is indifferent to the newcomers and insists it’s a resting place for the dead, and not the living. But the influx of people can’t be helped even with guards now manning the gates. Existing residents bring in newcomers. Some are working for constructions in the North Cemetery.

While the local police have tried to evict squatters, they keep coming back. In an effort to eradicate them, the local government has cut off electricity. But even that did not discourage the resourceful residents from finding alternatives such as stealing electricity through the use of jumpers.

Cemetery dwellers insist on staying considering the other options they have. There are the dirty, more dangerous areas along the sidewalk, riverbanks, under the bridge or on top of landfills. Inside the cemetery, it feels safer seeing families play board games, watch television, and sell goods at their small village stores. It’s also cleaner with city cleaners maintaining the place.

Unusual Destination

The North Cemetery is steep in history – of famous people, of grandiose mausoleums, of unique customs and of some of the city’s and country’s poorest. These residents are making history and are making the headlines. As foreign press and tourists are drawn to the place, they take with them the world’s attention. The North Cemetery is under the lens and people who want to know our history and our people are looking at a sad picture.

The Philippines is a beautiful face of paradise beaches and tropical climate but it is also a scarred face – one that reveals abject poverty.

While shutterbugs and travelers find the North Cemetery a place to work on their hobby, cemetery residents are not there to pass the time and have fun.

Cemeteries may have been built as a place for the dead but in these unusual times, more and more people are living with the dead in order to live.