Manila: Some visitors have already decided to go to Heaven's Garden Memorial Park here on Halloween Friday to avoid the expected influx on All Saints' Day on Saturday and All Souls' Day on Sunday. Some took the time to bond as a family over picnic lunch at the burial sites of their dearly departed. Some others, like councilor Aldous Perez and his friends, were setting up tents at the burial sites of their loved ones - in the case of Perez, his father, slain mayor Caesar.

According to Philippines News Agency, for those who have decided to go there on Saturday, they hire someone for the upkeep of the gravesite, including cleaning of tombstones to make them look neat and pleasing. This writer, while looking for the tomb of the former mayor, bumped into Eli Atienza, an elderly "lapida" cleaner. "Ang mahal nito. Ewan ko kung saan binili ito (This is expensive. I don't know where they bought this)," Atienza said in a chat with the Philippine News Agency while he was applying varnish to one tombstone.

When asked how long he has been doing this, Atienza, now 80, shared that this has been his job for 65 years already. Atienza continued that he is also doing tombstone restoration at the municipal cemetery here, just across the Anos Bridge. Going in and out of the said cemeteries is a breeze for him as he just lives at the riverside. While tombstone cleaning is considered an odd job, seeing him do it first-hand should give us added appreciation for how they help make remembering our loved ones during Undas more memorable.