House bill seeks to penalize funeral homes withholding remains due to non-payment

A bill has been filed at the House of Representatives seeking to impose penalties on funeral homes and others providing similar services which refuse to release the remains pending payment of their services.

Representative Luis Campos, Jr. of Makati City made the proposal under House Bill 1292. 

The bill also provides that any employee or officer of a morgue or funeral home who withholds the release of the remains as security for payment of mortuary services would face up to six months in prison plus a fine of up to P50,000.

"There are numerous instances where funeral parlors and other similar funeral service providers refuse to release the bodies of the deceased until the embalming and other funeral expenses are paid. This results in bodies rotting away in said places until families are compelled to sell their belongings or result to crime," Campos said in his explanatory note.

“It is cruel and inhumane for morgues and funeral homes to hold hostage the remains of the deceased for financial gain. It is a shameful and anti-poor business practice that should be condemned by Congress,” Campos added.

The bill says surviving family members unable to pay mortuary charges may claim a dead body, complete with all the necessary release papers, by simply executing a promissory note with co-makers.

In addition, the bill mandates the Department of Health to be in charge of enforcing the prohibition.

"The burial of the dead is sacred and important in order for a proper transition  into the afterlife. The plight faced by our underprivileged countrymen whenever a loved one dies and his or her body is detained as security for payment should be removed by outlawing the detention of bodies in funeral homes," Campos said.

"For the foregoing reasons, the early passage of this bill is earnestly sought," he added.

Based on the records of the state-run Commission on Population and Development, 879,429 Filipinos died in the Philippines and abroad during 2021 alone, with 105,723 deaths caused by COVID-19. —KG, GMA News