MANILA (UPDATED) - Funeral and burial services for senior citizens must be given a 20 percent discount under the Senior Citizens Act, the Supreme Court said Thursday.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda, the high court 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.”

The RTC was ruling on a special civil action for declaratory relief filed by Pryce Corporation. The company owns Pryce Gardens Memorial Parks, which has branches in Cagayan de Oro and other key Mindanao cities.

Pryce asserted that interment service is not among the services entitled to the 20% discount provided under Republic Act No. 7432 or the Senior Citizens Act.

The RTC agreed with the company, saying that RA 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 only mentioned the services of purchase of a casket or urn, embalming, hospital morgue, and transport of the body to the intended burial site.

The Supreme Court noted that Republic Act 9257 and RA 9994, in amending RA 7432, do not provide for an exact definition of the term “funeral and burial services.”

It stressed, however, that, the laws do not limit the scope of the services falling under “funeral and burial services.”

The tribunal said that based on the definition of the term “burial” as it is commonly understood, “burial service” pertains to any service offered or provided in connection with the final disposition, entombment, or interment of human remains.

It held that burial services include interment services, such as digging the land for the deceased person’s grave, its concreting, and other services being done during the actual burial.

The Court noted that Section 6 of the implementing rules and regulations of RA 9444 expounded on a sample list of "services" provided to the dead. It said, however, that the list is not exclusive.

The Court added that--as pointed out by Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier in her Concurring Opinion--it would be unreasonable to infer that Congress intended to differentiate between the deceased’s final solace for the purpose of granting the 20 percent discount absent a clear legislative intent to the contrary.

The Court said that the Senior Citizens Act gives flesh to the state policy of designing social security programs for its elderly citizens.

“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 pragmatics and businesspersons alike, the financial aspects of funeral and burial are matters that persist even after one is laid to rest,” it said.

National Commission of Senior Citizens chair Franklin Quijano told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo that internment services are also covered by the high tribunal's ruling.

Funds for death benefits will be provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Senior citizens who will receive death benefits will get an exemption from value-added tax, Quijano said. He called on all funeral service providers to follow the new ruling.

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