Millions flock to cemeteries to remember the dead in Philippines

Nov 1, 2010, 4:58 GMT

Manila - Millions of people flocked Monday to cemeteries throughout the Philippines remembering dead relatives and friends on All Saints Day.

Thousands of policemen and soldiers were deployed near the cemeteries to ensure the peaceful celebration of the occasion.

Police chief Director General Raul Bacalzo, who inspected cemeteries throughout the capital, said the celebration has remained peaceful and only one stabbing incident was reported before dawn.

The All Saints Day is one of the major holidays in the Philippines, where more than 80 per cent of the country's estimated 88.67 million people are Catholics.

Families bring candles, bouquets of flowers and food and hold vigils at the spruced up and whitened graves of their departed loved ones.

The celebration follows the Catholic tradition of remembering martyrs who were later canonized as saints. It has become an opportunity for relatives to get together for a day.

President Benigno Aquino III, who arrived before dawn from Vietnam, said he and his family would be visiting the tombs of their parents, assassinated former senator Benigno Aquino Junior and former president Corazon Aquino, on Tuesday.

Hundreds of people have been visiting the tombs of the Aquinos, considered democracy icons in the country, in a private memorial park in suburban Paranaque City.