Arranging a Funeral in the Philippines

Arranging a Funeral in the Philippines

Funerals are a fact of life and have to be arranged. Yet funerals cause a reaction similar to when a dental visit requires teeth to be drilled or pulled. OUCH! While funerals can and should be a warm and beautiful experience, a source of good memories, much smart and preparedness to deal with the arrangements are called for.

The blog is the author’s advocacy to address the anxieties associated with arranging a funeral. By sharing his 50+ years work experience in various roles in the local funeral industry, a smart and preparedness should arise among local residents to better arrange a funeral. Participants of the blog may learn, passively by visits to the site or actively by emailing comments and queries. The author is very aware of:
a) the pain of loss of a loved one,
b) the many and varied details of a funeral,
c) the distress that arises from a lack of smart and preparedness, and
d) the injustice and confusion experienced when the bereaved is victimized by unethical practices.   

Imagine how much more the pain when the loss of a loved one is accompanied by tragic circumstances.

To develop this preparedness, following are the topics covered by the blog:

·      funerals defined

·      its benefits

·      its downside and related trivia

·      ‘at-need’ arrangements defined

·      ‘pre-need’ arrangements defined

·      Republic Act 9829, the Pre-Need Code

·      RA 9829’s Implementing Rules and Regulations

·      establishing and preserving the blog’s credibility

·      caveats of the blog

·      relevant information on the author; its 3-man team

While most of the blog is written up, the plan is to present it in segments so as to lessen what will be a tedious and boring read.  Each of the topics will not be presented in its entirety but in small doses. Neither will the above sequence be followed. Rather, to give a ‘real world feel', the blog 'jumps around', at times simultaneously touching on several topics. This methodology will also allow for change(s) in the blog to accommodate responses.

To establish credibility early on, following are relevant information on the author. He has retired from active service in the industry. By virtue of inheritance, he is still a minority stockholder of a pre-need company. In the  late 1950s while still in college, he was employed by his father, an uncle and an aunty to assist in the administrative functions of the family’s funeral home which was founded by the author’s grandfather in 1900. In the early 1960s during post-graduate studies, he participated in negotiations for a service contract with the first pre-need funeral company in the country. In the early 1980s he was appointed general manager which, at the time, the company employed 150 regular and contractual employees who maintained 30 chapels and 30 funeral vehicles in 2 locations and manufactured its casket requirements. The author declined being the company’s licensed mortician and does not have hands-on experience in body preparation and preservation.

The blog was not created for financial gain. On the contrary, to protect and project the author’s advocacy, the blog will not endorse nor make referrals from which commissions and profit-shares are received. The blog will refrain from naming persons, parties, groups, institutions or events in the industry. Moreover, the blog will distance itself from controversy or sensationalizing existing controversies … also by not naming persons, parties, groups, institutions or events in the industry.  

On the other hand, topics the author believes to have caused controversies that have not been made public, will be disclosed in the hope that the information will strengthened the industry.

Finally, readers may find some disclosures disturbing. Take, for instance, the overzealous funeral representative who suddenly appears and makes up stories that the hospital morgue where the deceased is located has rodents ....reported to nibble on fresh remains.  And while this disclosure sounds ridiculous or even funny to some, given the state of mind of the bereaved, the unethical goes unnoticed, much less rebuffed and authorization to retrieve the remains is quickly signed over to the funeral home.

(June 27, 2014 ..4:09pm as the new moon appears)

Post #1

More to follow ….