Poor Pinoys forge life among tombstones

In teeming Manila, where poverty runs deep and millions lack adequate shelter, some of the living have found refuge among the dead.

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Laileah Cuetara’s shanty sits atop a pair of raised tombs inside the Manila North Cemetery, a sprawling 54-hectare public graveyard that is home to about 6,000 informal settlers and at least a million deceased Filipinos.

The tiny wood structure where she lives with her partner and two children is filled from side to side with a foam mattress, shelves, a television and picture frames.

In the doorway, a statue of an angel stands on an infant's crypt that doubles as a table.

The 36-year-old makes around P3,000 a month selling sweets, drinks and biscuits to cemetery visitors.

Over All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, when millions of Filipinos visit the graves of departed loved ones, she and her partner receive up to P1,700 for each of the 30 tombs they clean and tend to throughout the year.

But the money they earn is far too little to move, she said ahead of the Nov. 1-2 holidays.

"With the high prices of basic goods nowadays, it's very difficult to improve our living conditions," said Cuetara, who moved into the cemetery in 2008 after a family conflict forced her from her home in the Manila suburbs.