Last Wednesday my church's women organization met at The American Military Cemetery in BGC to participate and add to Billion Graves . My friend Tia has Filipino heritage and has done a lot of family history recently. She has found relatives here in Manila but also made close ties with her relatives in Siquijor, where her grandfather came from.

With that said, Tia has a motivation for family history in The Philippines. Billion Graves is a way to catalogue headstones all over the world. This is especially important in The Philippines because of the burial/headstone expiring after 5 or so years unless you pay to prolong the time period.

Billion Graves is an app on your phone where all you do is snap photos and upload them. They are then catalogued online!

During your next holiday where you honor your fallen or are spending time in the cemetery give Billion Graves a go. We have no idea how powerful this may be.

*We started at The American Military Cemetery because it was quite difficult to enter native cemeteries. That's where native Filipinos play the biggest part, just being able to enter the cemetery.

Tia who organized the event snapping away and uploading.            

Things to know:

• Manila American Cemetery

McKinley Road Global City, Taguig Philippines tel 011-632-844-0212

• The cemetery is open daily to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except December 25 and January 1. It is open on host country holidays. When the cemetery is open to the public, a staff member is on duty in the visitor building to answer questions and escort relatives to grave and memorial sites.