TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Long before he died, mason Vicente Agyao, a heavy drinker, told his buddies that when he dies, the cause of his death should be portrayed by his final resting place.
When he died from alcohol abuse sometime in 2016, he got his wish and his tomb in the barangay public cemetery along the road to Tuguegarao City is distinguished by a 1.5 meter long concrete likeness of a 4 x 4 gin bottle, his favorite drink.
Agyao’s is one of the more or less 20 unique tombs resembling things such as a chapel, a castle, land, air and water transport facilities and at least a couple of animals which have made the Nambaran cemetery sort of a tourist attraction what with both locals and outsiders stopping to take a look and shoot photos for several years now.
Nambaran resident Silverio Daluping said that in death, Agyao had become part of the spectacle he and his fellow mason friends Ignacio Baguiwan and Peter Bangayon had conceptualized and executed.
Daluping recalls that in the late 90s, the reputation of the Tulgao population in the barangay — they relocated to the barangay from their native Tulgao in Tinglayan and Colayo in Pasil starting in the 70s — was at its worst due to their alleged proneness to violence and involvement in highway robbery and squatting.
The victims include Roman Catholic Bishop Carlito Cenzon and his driver. They were hacked in the hands while in the act of trying to pick up a child who was accidentally hit by their vehicle.
“At that time, others would not touch us with a ten foot pole. This burdened Agyao and his two friends a lot and they tried to think of a way to make the tribe acceptable to other people,” Daluping recalls.
Daluping said that the trio’s brainstorming ended when NPA guerilla Rolando dela Cruz who was killed in an encounter with the military sometime in 2002 was buried in a tomb which bears the hammer and sickle emblem of communism.
Daluping said that the trio agreed to create unique tombs which would speak of what the dead person stood for adding that the idea would later grow to include fulfilled and unfulfilled desires of the dead or any facet of his life which the trio felt must be memorialized.
“They hoped that the unique tombs would attract people to the cemetery and somehow would allow interaction with us,” Daluping said.
Daluping recalls that the three first applied the concept when Sakgod Ya-o who died not long after the death of Dela Cruz. Because Ya-o was the first Christian convert from Colayo, Pasil, the three constructed a tomb which resembles a chapel.
Daluping related that Helen Ya-o whose tomb has a rubber shoe used to tell her nephew Banatao Baguiwan to buy his children shoes but all he brought home for them were slippers so that she was heard to tell him to buy Adidas shoes. The shoe which resembles an Adidas is marked “Adidas.”
While Helen Sawadan who died in 2009 was sick in bed, she regretted that she may die without seeing any grandchild because at that time her five children still had no children of their own.
She expressed the wish that if she dies, she should go to heaven immediately so that she could petition that she be allowed to live longer in order to see her grandchildren.
The masons illustrated the situation of Sawadan with an airplane reasoning that would be the quickest way for her to reach heaven to deliver her petition.
Piwa Ngaya-an who also died in 2009 also wanted to see his grandchildren in Manila before he died which did not happen. His final resting place is the likeness of a taxi, the conveyance that would have brought him to his grandchildren had the Manila trip materialized.
Regarding the concrete image of a dove on top of the tomb of Helen Agpad, Daluping said that the dead used to be a caretaker of a farm which had lots of doves and the horse on top of Layugan Uyam Malannag’s tomb tells the story of his preference for Marlboro cigarettes.
Daluping said that because Juan Edduba who died in 2015 had the last word in the Tulgao society in Nambaran and was an acknowledged tribal leader and peacemaker in the province, the masons constructed an elevated and shaded tomb the top of which has a table with a gavel.
The latest addition to the unique tombs is a guitar which is how Bangayon and Baguiwan felt Jimboy Layugan, a fresh college graduate who was killed in a motorcycle accident two months ago, should be remembered. The victim had a talent for singing and playing the guitar.
Daluping said that in some of the tombs, the body is in the structure itself but in others such as in the helicopter of Biyada Angiwot, it is buried beneath the symbol.
“Generally speaking, the masons have the freedom to conceptualize the tomb. In most cases, the family only find out the symbol during the burial,” Daluping said adding that because Tulgaos usually bury the dead on the fourth day, the masons finish the tomb for purposes of the burial within three days and do the finishing touches if any is needed after the burial.
Regarding the reaction of clergymen to what is happening in the cemetery, Daluping said that their priest in the Anglican Church is delighted but that he does not know how the other clergymen feel about it. He said that the biggest churches in the barangay are the Anglican and Roman Catholic with a small portion of the population belonging to other denominations.
City Tourism Officer Arlene Ethel Odiem said that her office considers the cemetery a must see for visitors not just because of the unique architectural designs of the tombs but because of the message these convey.
Odiem said that her office had proposed for the improvement of the fence and entrance gate and the provision of a marker for the cemetery.
On the other hand, Nambaran barangay secretary Tony Ngaya-an said they have always been including the development of the cemetery in the barangay development plan explaining that it should have a water system and comfort rooms for both the local residents and the tourists who drop by to satisfy their curiousity and take photos.
He admitted that the barangay has not provided for regular maintenance of the cemetery so that the cleaning falls on the relatives of the dead and sometimes on the tanods.
He said they will seek the help of outside agencies for the development of the cemetery.**Estanislao Albano, Jr.
