Carreta, Cebu City

Researcher: James S. Pino

Carreta is a barangay in Cebu City where city’s public cemetery is located. One that is not limited
to archives and extant proofs in learning the history and cultural evolution of a place, and one that
rich source of information on the past are in there. A visit to one of these burial places is sure to
take one back in time.
Cebu City has quite a number of old cemeteries, notably the Carreta Cemetery and the Dona
Pepang Cemetery. There are other cemeteries just as old, but these two seem to be the most widely
known. The prominence of the Carreta and Dona Pepang cemeteries are due in good part to the
public standing of those buried there.
Carreta Cemetery is one of the biggest cemeteries in Cebu. This Catholic cemetery has sections
devoted to certain groups or organizations, like for the World War II veterans and the Asociacion
Benefica Espanola de Cebu, intended for the Filipino-Spanish families in Cebu. Considering the
cemetery’s long existence, it is now almost overflowing and prompting the local Catholic Church
to resort to the construction of new niches stacked up to six levels high. There is even recently
constructed an apartment-type columbary in an effort to maximize the use of space.
Ornate Spanish-era mausoleums and niches are found in the cemetery. These are mostly
characterized by thick walls and arched opening, a sight that automatically hints of their ages.
Many other interesting graves are found in the cemetery.
It shall be noted that the street fronting the original gate of Carreta Cemetery was called Calle de
los Martires. Stories have it that the street was so called because this was the pathway through
which the bodies of “insurrectos” executed at Fort San Pedro were taken for burial at the cemetery.
At the fall of the Spanish rule, the street was dedicated to those martyrs of freedom.
Dona Pepang Cemetery came into existence with the construction of the Osmena Mausoleum upon
the death in 1918 of Doña Estefania Chiong Veloso-Osmeña, the first wife of Sergio Osmena Sr.
The mausoleum is of neoclassic design, and now holds the remains of other members of the
Osmeña clan. The niches are located in the underground chamber.
Estefania, born in 1875, was the daughter of Nicasio and Cenoveva Chiong Veloso, rich Chinese
traders. In 1901, she was married to Sergio Osmena, then a budding politician and lawyer. She
died at the age of 42.
The Osmena Mausolem was such an imposing structure in the area, and people referred to it simply
as Dona Pepang, Estefania’s popular name. Hence, the cemetery that developed around it also
came to be called Dona Pepang Cemetery.
Located a few steps away from this grand funerary edifice is an Art Deco mausoleum, owned by
the Jerez family, who gave every household in Cebu much-needed comfort from the tropical heat
through the huge family ice plant that once stood near the Carbon market in pre-war years. The
tombs inside this grand edifice are covered in marble panels carved with tell-tale Art Deco motifs.
These were most probably imported from Carara, Italy in the 1920s.
Other marble statues also dot many of the burials plots of the Sottos, the Ralloses and other families
whose names recall many pre-war political skirmishes as well as entrepreneurial successes.
There is one huge plot of the Cuencos and the resting place of Sen. Manuel C. Briones and also of
Fructuoso Ramos, former mayor of Cebu, just to name a few. Other prominent names in the
cemetery were Garcia, Escaño, Pelaez, Noel, and Climaco, although most of these have since been
relocated to much newer memorial gardens.
The Carreta and Dona Pepang cemeteries provide a hauntingly nostalgic view of how the
Cebuanos of old – the well-to-do and the common people – regard their dead. The effort and
resources poured into the construction of tombs are quite telling of the respect and affection that
the living had for their dear departed. And considering that these two cemeteries are the final
resting places of pioneering Cebuano community leaders – they also give today’s visitors a good
peek into Cebu’s historical past.

Cogon Ramos
Cogon Ramos is a barangay in the Central District of Cebu City originally called Cogon was added
the suffix Ramos that is now officially called as Brgy. Cogon-Ramos named in honor of Fructuoso
Rodis Ramos, former mayor of Cebu.
No other historical accounts are found.