By Dhel Nazario
Thousands flocked the Manila Memorial Park on Thursday in Parañaque City to visit their departed loved ones in observance of All Saints' Day.
As early as 5 in the morning, 2,534 people and 494 vehicles have already entered the cemetery premises.
As of 2 in the afternoon, the Southern Police District (SPD) has estimated a total 17,000 visitors will go to visit the tombs and pay their respects at the said cemetery.
The Parañaque City Police has applied tighter security measures at the cemetery while the local government has put up a health assistance desk at the entrance of the Manila Memorial Park in case of emergency health issues.
The influx of people and vehicles going in and out of the cemetery has also caused a bit of a traffic congestion that was immediately manned by the deployed traffic constables of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
The cemetery is famous as being the resting place to some prominent personalities including former President Corazon Aquino, former Senator Ninoy Aquino, Actors Rico Yan, Rene Requiestas, Vic Vargas and Paquito Diaz.
Former President Noynoy Aquino has earlier visited the grave of his parents on Wednesday together with his sisters to avoid the huge number of crowd that will be visiting the cemetery on Thursday.
According to the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Guillermo Eleazar, the observance of Undas in Southern Metro has been generally peaceful. There were no reported untoward incidents yet in the cemetery.