‘Undas’ sideline sustains Koronadal families
KORONADAL CITY—For as little as P5 per grave, youths and adults living beside Koronadal City Public Cemetery earn extra money by cleaning tombs and lighting candles for visitors ahead of “Undas” (All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day).
The annual influx of cemetery visitors offers these residents a chance to earn money for their families’ daily needs, including food.
As Undas approaches, they offer various services, from cleaning and weeding graves to repainting tombs, relettering faded grave markers and lighting candles on hard-to-reach graves.
Some workers even climb stacked, apartment-style tombs to reach graves that visitors may find difficult to access.
They set their own rates, starting at P5 depending on the size of the grave and the work required. Some manage to clean seven to 10 graves a day, although their earnings depend on the number of customers they find.
Grade 10 student “Zai” said young people like him take advantage of weekends to earn money by cleaning graves.
Young workers
He said some students sometimes skip classes when the number of cemetery visitors increases, giving them more opportunities to find customers.
The young workers take on these jobs to help their families pay for daily necessities, Zai told the Inquirer.
The opportunity to earn extra income has also drawn parents to the cemetery, with some joining their children in offering services to visitors.
Among them are Boy and Vanessa delos Santos, who live beside the cemetery and were hoping to earn from the increase in visitors ahead of Undas.
The couple offers to clean and weed graves, repaint tombs, add lettering to grave markers and watch over motorcycles and vehicles parked outside the cemetery.
They hoped the growing number of cemetery visitors would bring them more customers, even if the opportunity lasts only a few days.
