Senior Citizens 20% Discount on Funeral and Burial Services Includes Interment Services, according to the Supreme Court.

After several years of dispute on the issue on whether interment services are covered by 20% discount on funeral and burial expenses provided by the Senior Citizens Act and its amending laws, the Supreme Court has just recently ruled that it is. 

This announcement was made by the Supreme Court Public Information Office on March 16, 2023. In an En Banc decision, the Supreme Court, though Associate Justice Rodil V. Zalameda granted the petition for review on certiorari filed by the Republic of the Philippines and set aside the January 18, 2018 and October 22, 2018 Resolutions of Branch 17 of the Cagayan de Oro City Regional Trial Court (RTC), which excluded interment services from the coverage of the statutorily mandated senior citizen discount on “funeral and burial services.”

 In favoring the prayer of the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs as one of the Petitioners, the Supreme Court made its ratiocinations, that: 

“The Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, only mentioned the services of purchase of casket or urn, embalming, hospital morgue, and transport of the body to the intended burial site, the RTC held that the service of interment was not included as one of the benefits covered by the discount. Specifically, the RTC concluded that the digging of land for the grave of the deceased, the concreting of the gravesite, and the other services done during the actual burial were not subject to the 20% Senior Citizens Act discount. Also, that interment services are covered by the provision of RA 7432, as amended by RA 9257 and RA 9994, which grants a 20% discount on the funeral and burial services for the death of senior citizens, emphasized that the Senior Citizens Act is a law created to grant a bundle of benefits in favor of senior citizens or those at least 60 years old, giving flesh to the declared policy of motivating senior citizens to contribute to nation building and encouraging their families and communities to reaffirm the Filipino tradition of caring for the senior citizens.”

The Court rhetorically added also, that, 

“Death may be the end of one’s life. But from the perspective of those left behind, there are things that survive a person’s demise. For the romantics, it is the memories and feelings that linger long after the passing of a loved one. For the pragmatics and businesspersons alike, the financial aspects of funeral and burial are matters that persist even after one is laid to rest.

The full text of the Decision in the subject case of Republic v. Pryce (G.R. No. 243133) will be published in the SC website once an official copy will be made available to the public.