As the area available for burials was limited, and the graves were usually unmarked, parts of decomposed bodies were constantly being dug up.

It was the custom to throw such remains about the foot of the cross at the centre of the cemetery.
Military sanitation was also very bad.

I was at Zamboanga when the wreck of General Weyler's expedition to Lake Lanoa began to return.

There had been no adequate provision for the medical care of the force in the field, and the condition of many of the soldiers was pitiable in the extreme.

Disabled men were brought in by the shipload, and the hospitals at Zamboanga, Isabela de Basilan and Jolo were soon filled to overflowing.
The lack of adequate sanitary measures was equally in evidence in dealing with cattle disease.