PMA seeks gov’t support for better death benefits
The Philippine Mortuary Association (PMA) is seeking support from Congress for increased death care benefits of every Filipino.
PMA president Renato Dychangco Jr., said yesterday that the industry is now talking with some lawmakers in the country for a possibility of crafting a bill that would increase the current budget for death care assistance of all Filipinos, via Social Security System (SSS) and Government Social Insurance System (GSIS).
At the lowest, a death care assistance of P30 thousand at this time is not even enough to provide a decent burial to a loved one, said Dychangco, who is the founder and chairman of Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes chain in the country.
A higher subsidy from the government’s coffers is needed, as majority of Filipinos are now having difficulties in funding a proper funeral without asking help from politicians, which should not be the case.
PMA has 400 industry members and one of the thrusts of the organization is to professionalize the death care/service industry, Dychangco said.
Dychangco has been leading the advocacy in calling for government support to come up with a law that will properly define the mortuary industry and its function in the community.
PMA already presented their appeals for proper government support, such as strict regulation for embalmers, subsidy to cheapen the cost of funeral services, and other critical regulations.
House Bill 2983, authored by Alfredo Q.Vargas III, prohibits the occurrence of holding hostage a cadaver of the departed.
According to Vargas, the high cost of funeral services in the country worsens the economic hardships of some bereaved Filipino families.
The cost of dying nowadays would not only mean spending "what is left from savings". But most families, if not financially prepared had to borrow large amounts of money in order to give a decent burial to a loved one.
With so many paper works, religious and cultural traditions to be accomplished, a mourning family should be ready to spend at the very least of P50,000 in the next few days from death, before the departed will be brought to his/her final resting place in cemetery.