Koronadal fast tracks lot selection for new cemetery

By Danilo E. Doguiles

Thursday 2nd of August 2012

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato, Aug 2 (PIA) -- The city government here wants to hasten the establishment of the new Koronadal City public cemetery.

Mayor Peter B. Miguel has ordered the task force to fast track the selection of the site where the public graveyard will be located.

Last July 17 and 22, the selection committee met with homeowners in Purok Sto Niño, Barangay Paraiso for consultations on the issues and concerns pertaining to the project.

The project is one of the priority thrusts of Miguel for 2012-2013, considering that the present public cemetery here has become very congested to a point that several niches are already piled up to four levels.

The city local government unit (LGU) has allocated P3 million for the purchase of the lot for the cemetery, which, according to the local chief executive, will offer the same amenities of private graveyards yet affordable to low-income families.

Benito Quirao, acting head of the City General Services Office (CGSO) and head of the task force secretariat, said the process started early last year with an invitation for lot owners to sell their property to the LGU.

After land search and assessments, members of the lot selection committee identified a 3.5-hectare lot at Purok Sto.Nino as best suited to the project.

Quirao said the proposed site passed the following requirements: zoning classification of open space, not within Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones, not tenanted, not covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, not prime agricultural land and not irrigated.

After the lot selection, appraisal, purchase and site development should immediately follow, he said.

At present, the CGSO is updating and verifying lease contracts of existing burial lots and niches in the old cemetery.

Part of the development plan of the city, Miguel disclosed, the old cemetery will be transformed into a public memorial park patterned to that of Tagum City and local private memorial park Koronadal Golden Valley.

In June, the mayor along with some city officials visited Tagum for a benchmarking study tour.

Besides acquiring the impetus for the development of the city’s cemetery, Miguel also wants to replicate Tagum City’s concept of a night market to boost the microeconomy sector of the city. (DEDoguiles-PIA 12/Caroline Mariano-Koronadal City Information Office)