
Residents of one of the Philippines' worst slums - where families live atop graves and children play among human remains - are preparing for the annual Filipino day of the dead.

All Souls' Day in the Philippines, known as Araw ng mga Patay, and All Saints' Day are the two most important days in the Filipino calender.

Residents of Navotas, in Metro Manila - and millions more across the nation - are beginning their preparations for the festivals which will see crypts and cemeteries filled with relatives honouring the dead.

The Navotas municipal cemetery is located in an area of crippling poverty. Pictured are human skulls lying in mud

Two barefoot children play with a wooden ladder among the graves at the human remains-strewn cemetery

A boy climbs up the stacked concrete coffins. Relatives of those buried have spent the past few days cleaning the graves

A girl dances on top of graves in Navotas, Metro Manila. Many people live in the cemetery - it is one of the country's worst slums

Families tend to light candles and clean crypts ahead of All Saints' Day celebrations on October 31.

As the largest Catholic nation in Asia, All Souls' Day allows Filipinos to visit family crypts for overnight and weekend vigils.

Offices and schools close and the usually silent graveyards are transformed into parties with food and music.

The celebration corresponds with that of All Saints' Day - which is a chance for Roman Catholics to worship the Saints who do not hold their own feast day.

Thousands of policeman are set to be deployed to cemeteries across the country to help manage the influx of visitors.

One such cemetery will be Navotas Municipal Cemetery in north-west Manila.

Here, crippling poverty means many people live in the cemetery on top of the rows of stacked graves, while children play barefoot through the cemetery's muddy roads amid human remains.

A girl sits inside a pedicab parked next to graves, as locals begin cleaning and preparing the graves for All Souls' Day

A woman reads a pocketbook outside their makeshift house, which is build atop graves at the cemetery