The national president of the Philippines can declare a holiday at any time. We found out one Monday morning in December that it had been designated by her as a holiday. So we didn't go to work; we went to the Chinese Cemetery. This is a fairly large section where the Chinese have been burying their dead for centuries.
The rich Chinese built large tombs to house their dead. Some buildings were very ostentatious. Gold letters, crystal windows, several stories high. We were told that each year on All Saints (Halloween) their families come to celebrate. They hold parties (the drinking type, we understood) and they stay right in the sepulchre with the "residents." Some family members even live in the building permanently.
When the Japanese invaded the Philippines, the Chinese resisted. This monument commemorates that resistance and memorializes the Chinese who were killed. Our guide told us the Japanese visitors seldom stay long at this monument. (It seems to us that most Filipinos have a low regard for the Japanese, and most are not shy in expressing it.)
This is a typical burial room for a Chinese mother and father. The benches on the side are for visitors (family) when they come. Food is placed in there, and incense and money are burned.
There are blocks and blocks, row after row of burial chambers. The Chinese Association owns the cemetery and charges for its use. Rich people can lease or build their own building, but if the lease is not paid, then the body is removed and put into a crypt along the outer wall. We saw many elegant tombs and any number of them that were decrepit and wasting. Our Filipino guide told us he was born in the cemetery and that to be a guide one had to have that credential. He said there were only three guides. When Elder Roundy asked what would they do when all the legitimate guides passed on, he simply said, "Change the rules."
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