Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President-elect Bishop Pablo Virgilio David appealed on Friday, Oct. 22, to allow relatives of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) victims to visit their graves during All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
In a Facebook post, David asked city and town mayors to issue special permits for those who experienced deaths in their family during the pandemic so they can visit cemeteries and columbaries on Nov. 1 and 2.
"May I appeal for sheer compassion, that you allow at least the families of those who died during this COVID pandemic between 2020-2021, to observe Undas this coming November 1 2? They have not even been given the chance to grieve yet as families," David wrote.
"We can ask them to present a death certificate and give them a special COVID pass to the cemeteries and columbaries where the remains of their loved ones are lying in state," he added.
All cemeteries in the country will be closed anew from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission during "Undas," Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año announced on Wednesday, Oct. 20.