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Interment services covered by senior citizen’s discount — SC


The Supreme Court has ruled that interment services are covered by the 20% senior citizen’s discount on funeral and burial expenses.

According to a press briefer, the Supreme Court En Banc set aside the January 2018 and October 2018 resolutions of the Cagayan de Oro City Regional Trial Court which excluded interment services from the coverage of the discount.

The case stemmed from a special civil action filed by a domestic corporation engaged in the business of selling memorial lots and offering interment services.

The RTC ruled that interment services is not covered by the 20% discount under Republic Act 7432 or the Senior Citizen’s Act, as amended by RA 9257 and RA 9994.

However, the Supreme Court said that both RA 9527 and RA 9994 do not provide for the exact definition of “funeral and burial services.”

It added that the laws also do not limit the scope of service under “funeral and burial services.”

According to the High Tribunal, the term “burial service” pertains to any service offered in connection with the final disposition, entombment, or interment of human remains.

The Court said that it follows that burial services include interment services such as digging the land for the grave, its concreting, and other service done during the burial.

“The Court found that the exclusion by the RTC of interment services from the coverage of the 20% senior citizen discount is not provided under the law, and the IRR, which does not explicitly exclude interment services, cannot be interpreted to support the lower court’s resolution,” the briefer read.

The decision was penned by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda.—AOL, GMA Integrated News

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