Manila Cemeteries (1900-1919)
The one hectare Sampaloc cemetery located in the hills of Balic-balic was completed around 1890 (first burial done 1890) although the funerary chapel was reported completed by Fr. Ramon Caviedas in February 1891. Balic-balic cemetery was one of the cemeteries still being used during the American colonial period. The American health authorities submitted regular reports on the number of burials done in the various cemeteries of Manila (1900-1919). The Manila cemeteries identified in these reports were as follows:
- Balicbalic
- Binondo
- Cathedral
- Chinese
- La Loma
- Malate
- Maytubig
- Maytubig-Ermita
- Maytubig-Dilao
- Maytubig-San Marcelino
- Norte
- Paco
- Pandacan
- Pandacan-Roman Catholic
- Pandacan-Filipino Independent
- Sampaloc
- San Pedro Macati
- San Pedro Macati – English
- Santa Ana
- Santa Cruz
- Singalong
- Tondo
The North cemetery (built during the American colonial period) had the largest number of burials (70, 861 from 1904 to 1919) with only around 288 burials in 1904 to 5,925 in 1919. The Manila cemeteries with the next largest number of burials paled in comparison with the North cemetery. Balicbalic cemetery only had 19, 080 burials (for the same period). Binondo cemetery had 18,993 and La Loma had 19, 781 burials. Binondo, Balicbalic, and La Loma cemeteries were all built during the Spanish period. We do not have American burial reports for 1920 onward (probably still hidden in some library or archive) but oral tradition in Balic-balic states the burials continued to be done even after 1919 but with the cemetery officially closed by 1925. Even then, Balic-balic cemetery had served the people of Sampaloc well (from 1890 to 1925). In fact, not just residents of Sampaloc, but of Quiapo and San Miguel were reported to have been buried at the Sampaloc cemetery as well.
Image: Paco Cemetery, the grand old cemetery of Manila. Last burial statistics reported for Jan-June 30, 1912 with a total of 364 burials for that period.
