Poorest of the poor: bearing the weight of poverty in cemetery

By: Athena Morales and James Rusia

Pilled graves serve as homes for poor families living in Manila North Cemetery.
Photo by: Athena Morales

Cemeteries are often seen as scary and lifeless places where no one could ever imagine sleeping on top of the grave, neither you, But Mang Obet and Nanay Blangkita found their peace living in the land of the dead.

The cemetery serves a home for poor families who have been displaced due to the adversity of life and some choose to stay where no one can harm them, not even dead.

The so-called "Manila North Cemetery" is now a "village" for people living there

For four decades Mang Obet raised his 12 children by cleaning the tombs since this is the only job he can afford aside from selling plastic bottles.

“Namimili ako ng bote tapos ‘tong mga kalakal na ‘to pinupulot ko kasi sayang din pera din ‘to diba?”

I’m buying plastic bottles, and I picked up some of them because this is money too.

Mang Obet fixing plastic bottles that He would sell, while Popong waiting for His lolo on top of their “kariton”, their main source of income.
Photo by: Athena Morales


People would pay Him one hundred pesos which seems to be not enough to feed his family. He roamed around the cemetery like he had never been in a stroke and collected plastic bottles which he would sell for 8 pesos per kilo.

"Otso pesos kada kilo, gano’n. Minsan kumikita ako ng 300 isang araw."

Eight pesos per kilo and sometimes I am earning 300 pesos a day.

Indeed, Mang Obet would need a sack of energy to be able to buy a kilo of rice.


“Diskarte lang ang kailangan.”


You just need to find ways.

It is not only poverty that almost kills them but seeking food is an everyday battle for them, from seeking an extra income to finding another dirty tomb to clean so they can provide food on the table.

Everyday battle to hunger

Tatay Ronaldo,68, eating His early lunch unbothered on top of the grave.
Photo by: Athena Morales

It is not a secret how life in a dead community seems to be an everyday pit to feed their crumbling stomachs.

A hundred pesos can only buy a kilo of rice and 2 sardines but imagine how they survive a month only having a hundred pesos in their pockets.

If they depended on these, they would surely be left dead of hunger.

"Hindi talaga sapat kung tutuusin pero wala ka namang magagawa kundi pagkasyahin." Mang Obet heavily said

Honestly, it is not enough, but you have no choice but to budget it.

This mirrors how poverty can enslave Filipino families on jobs that almost cost a cent, they will dig into graves and even clean their faces in exchange for food that will calm their roaring hunger.

Nanay Blangkita cleaning one of the tombs of Her “alaga”.
Photo by: Athena Morales

Nanay Blangkita,68, works the typical job in the community by cleaning the tombs regularly and sometimes selling plastic bottles.


"'Pag may nakita akong bote pupulutin ko 'yan pera 'yan e, 'yong basket ng bulaklak? limang piso din 'yon."

Whenever I see plastic bottles, I pick them because I can still sell them, like the plastic flower vase that costs around 5 pesos.


a hundred pesos per month only reaches the thumbs of the dead, not even enough to survive hunger.


Undas is an early Christmas for them but on cloudy days and no work, she will ask for help from her neighbors in exchange for food.


"Sasabihin ko sa kaibigan ko d'yan tulungan mo 'ko, tulungan mo 'ko sige,walang problema pagod lang 'yan basta pakainin mo ako."


I will tell my friends to help me (they will say), then help me; there is no problem with that for as long as they will give me food.

Nanay Blangkita is willing to do everything, with no questions about any kind of work, anything, just for her to survive.


"panget 'yong pinapakain kalang para kang walang pakpak."

It's not good when people just feed you; it seems that you have no capability to do that for yourself.

As for the recent survey conducted by Social Weather Stations, almost 11.3% of Filipino families had nothing to eat which is almost 2.9 million people.

The highest rate was in Metro Manila at 16.3%, which is quite evident for the city having the most populated and rapid influx of informal settlers within the community.

Even outside the cemetery, many are still fighting hunger, how much more are those people who are living in the cemetery where food is hard to find, when there is no funeral it leaves them no food on their plates.

In search of water in a graveyard

Gallons of water in a “kariton: sitting in front of the old tombs.
Photo by: Athena Morales

Living with the dead seems to be peaceful, as they said, but the struggle to have access to their daily needs is the ghost that follows them each day.

“Minsan nag babayad kami isang daan o kaya ayan nag iigib sa poso doon sa kabilang eskinita,” Mang Obet said.

Sometimes, we pay around a hundred pesos, or at other times we’ll just get water from the “poso” on the other street.

Filling up drums is one of their sources of income in the cemetery; Popong, the grandchild of Mang Obet, can now help their family as he delivers water to every home.

It sounds resourceful at times, but this reveals that the cemetery is not really for the living; it is designed for those who are lifeless.

The family of Nanay Blangkita is doing their laundry like normal living in a community.
Photo by: Athena Morales

When you walked around the cemetery, you would see piles of buckets on top of tombs,

people were unbothered passing by numerous graves while carrying a gallon of water.

Manila North “Village” seems to be full of life for families here; you would see people doing their laundry on top of tombs, kids taking their showers beside the piles of graves, no fear, just living their life as it used to be.

No one can blame the family of Mang Obet and Nanay Blangkita, who found life in this deadly place.

The wall that shelters them from poverty's brutal reality

The shade of pilled tombs serves as a wall that hides them from the unjust system of this society. They choose to belong and sleep beside the dead rather than live out the reality of life where they can't afford anything.

"Dito wala kang binabayaran na upa, lalo na ako wala na akong asawa san ako kukuha ng pambayad sa renta?"

You don’t need to pay rent here, especially in my case I don't have any companion. Where can I get money to pay for my rent?

photo by: Athena Morales

It seems like Mang Obet and other families living in the cemetery have no choice but to bear living with the dead because according to the housing department of Manila, informal settlers of Manila North cemetery are not their priority, but people living in dangerous places such as railways and bridges.

"Bale hahanapan pa... Mas kinakailangan natin i-accommodate ang living in danger area, di naman sinasabi na di sila priority syemp priority din kaya lang stage-by-stage" housing department said regarding the relocation of informal settlers.


For now, we are focusing on accommodate those people living in dangerous areas, we are not saying that they are not the priority, of course, they are, but we take it stage by stage

Map showing how huge the land area of Manila North Cemetery with the red spot for having the most populated area within the cemetery.

The 54-hectare cemetery is filled with almost 900 families which sum up to 10,000 individuals.

This added to the escalating number of informal settlers that are handled by the City of Manila.

The City Government offers houses as they said but more is needed to convince them to live life outside the cemetery.

photo by: Athena Morales

On every side of pilled tombs and Museleo, there are families bearing the weight of life, not even ghosts of the dead can convince them to find a decent home.


"Dadalhin ka ng Bulacan wala ka namang income,
may relocation nga Cavite,Bulacan ano gagawin mo doon?"

There are relocation areas in Cavite (and) Bulacan, they will bring you to Bulacan but you need more income there. What will you do then?

Their main concerns are how they can eat, not the roof that can be their shelter.

It is not about the poverty that chained them, but the livelihood where they can have an income and the way they can survive by it.


Stepping in the real community brings fear to how they can continue life knowing that the only job they know is working alongside the dead.


As life thrives amidst the very symbols of mortality. The graves, typically associated with the end, paradoxically become the cradle for Mang Obet and Nanay Lingbet where life persists. Like flowers blooming amid decay, they find resilience in perpetual impermanence.


We are all soon to be home underneath the dirty soil but as life persists these families will hold on to the fate of life between death.

Amid poverty, the family of Mang Obet and Nanay Blangkita remained at peace as they knew things were meant and shouldn’t be forced even at times when life buried the hope to escape their reality.

"Kung dimo naman kaya wag mo akapin.. Yung pader dimo kaya wag mo akapin.

Akapin mo lang yung kaya mo akapin" Nanay blangkita contentedly said.