‘If government is willing to risk people’s health and safety by allowing them to congregate at the world’s first man-made unswimmable beach, why not allow them also to risk their health and safety by congregating around the tombstones of beloved forebears…’
IT was smashing to see thousands of Filipinos flocking to the man-made dolomite beachfront on Roxas Boulevard a few days ago, enjoying the gift of nature (c/o the DENR) but keeping away from the waters of the bay. Many of the visitors wore their masks on right, but social distancing rules were thrown out the window.
Who can blame them — these were our countrymen to whom the project was dedicated, they who, we were told, could not afford the luxury of traveling to places like El-Yu, Boracay, Siargao, El Nido or (naturally) Amanpulo, but could now know for themselves how it feels to be on a beach.
Except that this may be the very first man-made beach in history with another first — the first one where no one dared wade into the dark, murky waters of Manila Bay lest they get sick of something other than COVID.
So, it still is not the El-Yu or Boracay or Siargao experience, yes? Because what use is going to the beach without getting at least a toe dipped in the water?
(To be fair, there are other beaches in the world where people are wary of wading even knee deep. But the usual reason is because the beach is a hunting ground for sharks. That’s not a problem at our dolomite beach, since the sharks were all busy at Pharmaly.)
But given that Monday is the traditional visit-to-the-cemetery day, one that is now again something we will all be unable to do due to COVID, why would the government allow people to flock to the dolomite beach but disallow them to flock to the cemeteries? If government is willing to risk peoples’ health and safety by allowing them to congregate at the world’s first man-made unswimmable beach, why not allow them also to risk their health and safety by congregating around the tombstones of beloved forebears which is a tried and tested tradition? I don’t get it.
A few days ago, rather than don my sunglasses and beach shorts and join the crowd at dolomite beach, I opted to search the Alaminos public cemetery for the final resting place of Gaudencio and Salome Baylon-Faylona, my father’s uncle-in-law and paternal aunt, the original owners of the house that I now occupy and which will become my retirement residence. It’s been decades since I’ve visited their tomb, because it’s been decades since I really ever visited Alaminos except for brief moments when I would pick up my father and bring him to Himlayang Pilipino so we could visit my mother’s final resting place.
But now that I am a local, and a registered voter at that, it was just proper for me to do this, finally. Luckily for me they were easy to find as they were buried very close to the main gate of the cemetery. Luckily for me, too, there weren’t as many people also doing their cemetery visits when I was there as there were people at the dolomite beach, so yes, we were much safer.
I felt a certain sense of fulfillment finally reconnecting with my elders. Even if there’s no such thing as life after death and they wouldn’t even know I was visiting, the fulfillment was mine. Also, I’d rather be the one visiting them than they visiting me, yes?
Dolomite, yes; cemeteries, no. What a strange government policy. Then again, did we really expect any better?
