The officers and members of the Palau Community Association and its youth group spent hours over the weekend doing what they have been doing for so many years: maintaining their loved ones’ resting place.
PCA president Rufino Aguon said that like Tanapag Cemetery, Wireless Ridge is also for non-Catholics. It is where the departed loved ones of most of their fellow Palauans are buried and that is why it has become their tradition to conduct a cleanup there at least twice a year.
Shutting it down does not mean the cemetery will be neglected, Aguon said. Their loved ones are still there so they will continue to take care of the place, and this will be continued by the next generations, he added.
Vicente B. Cabrera, the newly elected president of PCA-Youth, said it was his first time to join the cleanup but he already saw the importance of coming together as one community.
The government has closed the cemetery and plans to transfer the remains there to Marpi Cemetery as soon as its construction is completed.
The Fitial administration said a few months ago that it was working on the regulations regarding health, water and sanitation at Wireless Ridge Cemetery in preparation for the exhumation of the remains there.
For the Palauan association, this plan is not a problem. But as long as the exhumation has not started yet, they will continue to volunteer their time every year in maintaining the area.
Aguon said there are less than 100 remains buried in Wireless Ridge Cemetery which he estimated to be over 30 years old. Most of them, he said, were their parents, grandparents and some were past officers of their association.
Aside from Palauans, Koreans Chinese and other non-Catholics were buried there.
Aguon said PCA members maintain every single grave during their cleanup. They cut the bushes, trim the grass, get rid of trash and fix broken tombs if necessary.
Some of those buried there no longer have relatives on the island but during All Souls Day, PCA makes sure every grave has flowers on it, Aguon added.
“This one of our ways of giving back to the community,” he said. The cleanup, he added, also gives the organization the opportunity to bond and pass on valuable traditions to the younger generation.
Cabrera said it feels good to take care of the resting place of other people’s loved ones even if he barely knows them.
Cabrera’s mother, Medina, said because Palauans on Saipan have maintained strong ties with each other and with other members of the community, “everybody considers everyone family.”
