PRESS RELEASE
October 26, 2008
Office of Caloocan City Mayor Enrico “Recom” Echiverri
Ref. Public Information Office
Telefax 3244644

Caloocan City Mayor Enrico “Recom” Echiverri yesterday ordered the conduct of pre- All Saints’ Day saturation drives in the city’s three public cemeteries.

According to Echiverri, the continuous saturation drives will be headed by the Reformed Public Safety and Traffic Management (RDPSTM) and the Caloocan City Social Welfare Department (CSWD) to prevent lawless elements from victimizing those who will be visiting the memorial parks.

“These will be done on regular basis. The RDPSTM and CSWD will be intensively enforcing security measures to ensure that the public will be safe and protected in addition to rescuing the street children and vagrants dwelling inside the cemeteries,” Echiverri said.

The mayor added that the saturation drive will be conducted on Sangandaan Public Cemetery in Sangandaan; Tala Cemetery in Bagong Silang; and Bagumbong Cemetry in Bagumbong on a regular basis until the celebration of All Saints’ Day this coming Saturday, when thousands are expected to troop the areas to visit their dead relatives.

For his part RDPSTM chief Alfonso Sta. Maria said that aside from saturation drives, monitoring and patrolling will also be strictly enforced in the cemeteries as per order of Mayor Echiverri.

Our teams will also be monitoring the cemetery caretakers to ensure that only those legitimate and authorized persons can live within the graveyard’s premises, Sta. Maria added.

Earlier, a joint rescue operation conducted by CSWD personnel and other local government offices at the Sangandaan Cemetery netted 36 people. They were immediately turned-over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development after undergoing medical check-up and case study.

CSWD chief Jimmy Castro, meanwhile said the mayor has ordered the rescue operations to clean the public cemeteries of vagrants, beggars, scavengers and solvent-users.