Payag-payag sa kalag: Where the dead live among the living

At the Corazon Cemetery in Bogo City, the dead have their own little neighborhood.

- Jonnavie Villa, Staff Member

These miniature houses at the Corazon Cemetery in Bogo City are built by some families for the bones of their departed loved ones.

(AVIE VILLA)

Instead of the usual rows of neatly stacked bone chambers, visitors entering the other side of the Corazon Cemetery are greeted by an extraordinary setting — a quiet village of small, house-like structures with each one built by families, by hand, for the bones of their departed loved ones.

Indeed, a curious sight to see, these are rows of miniature houses, each no taller than a child.

Some painted with bright colors, others left bare. Names written across the walls, some have their own windows where bones can even be seen resting quietly inside.

But to the people of Bogo, there’s nothing strange about these "payag-payag." For them, these small houses are built not only out of necessity but also out of love.