Sto. Tomas, Pampanga, the “casket capital” of the Philippines, will not hold its annual casket festival this year due to a lack of materials, time and funds for the October 31 event, a town official said.
Jun Pangilinan, executive secretary of Sto. Tomas Mayor Gloria Ronquillo, said at least P500,000 is needed to hold the festival that celebrates the number one industry of the town, with pottery a far second.
Pangilinan said that in the past, about 300 family-owned casket makers, mostly located at barangay San Vicente, provided the funds for the festival, with a counterpart fund from the municipality.
Other sponsors of the unique festival were the National Federation of Mortuary Stakeholders Inc. and the Sto. Tomas Tourism, Arts and Culture Council.
But the festival will not push through this year ahead of Halloween and the All Saints’ Day/All Souls Day holiday “because of a lack of materials (to make special caskets), time and funds,” Pangilinan said.
“Mayor Ronquillo assures everybody that next year the festival will be held,” he added.
The festival features caskets in different colorful shapes, forms, and scary designs that are paraded and displayed in their respective booths on October 31 before the traditional “Undas” holidays.
Winners are declared for each category and receive trophies and cash from the organizers.
This is all to promote the main livelihood and and enhance tourism to this 4th-class municipality that employs about half of its 40,000 residents.
Sto. Tomas is the smallest town of Pampanga, comprising only 1,467 hectares in area with seven villages that house the 300 family casket manufacturers. But they produce over 24,000 pieces a month — about 70 percent of the country’s total market for coffins, according to the local government — and distribute their creations nationwide.
While all materials they use for coffins are imported, Ronquillo said the manufacturers are not yet exporting their products, and the mayor is exploring the global market for them.
The Department of Trade and Industry in Pampanga said Sto. Tomas was dubbed as the casket capital of the Philippines after the industry started there in the 1940s at the height of World World II, when the country was invaded by Japanese soldiers and later freed by American forces.
The other products of the municipality are pottery, ceramics, and agricultural products like rice and fish.
Meanwhile, a total of 6,000 policemen will be deployed in the different cemeteries in Central Luzon to assure zero crime incidence during the celebration of All Saints’ Day.
Police Brig. Gen. Leonardo Cesneros, Officer-in-Charge of the Police Regional Office 3, said policemen will be deployed on November 1 and 2 from different provincial, city, and municipal police stations for the safety and security of the public for “Undas 2019.”
Cesneros said policemen will be also deployed to transport terminals, while police assistance centers with Road Safety Marshals will be stationed along major thoughtfares and secondary roads to secure the public.
“I want to remind our public to also be wary and alert so as not to give lawless elements the opportunity to carry out their nefarious activities,” the general added.