Manila North cemetery
Massimo Sciacca
Contrasto / Rea
Manila North cemetery is the city’s largest cemetery, spreading over an area of 30,000 m2 and covering the whole northern part of Abbad Santos district.
In the last 30 years, the cemetery, built during the Spanish domination, has become a home for many homeless people who have decided to live here, inside tombs, creating real homes with all modern conveniences. Electricity and water are supplied by a Chinese company authorized by the Municipality of Manila. More than 500 families live inside the cemetery; they have transformed it in a real independent village complete with shops, small restaurants, basketball fields and even a public laundry. Living with dead people doesn‚t appear to be a problem.
Preview
Benito Quinto, taxi driver, has been living inside the family tomb for about 5 years with his wife and two sons.
At Manila North Cemetery funerals are still very frequent; on Sundays, hundreds of people crowd the entrance of the cemetery with noisy jeeps, coloured local buses with the deceased's relatives and friends aboard.
Manila North Cemetery is still under the protection of the Municipality of Manila which is uselessly trying to stop the wild occupation of tombs. Today, for many people, Manila North Cemetery is their last hope to find a house in this part of the world.