Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 16) — The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that senior citizens’ 20% discount on funeral and burial expenses include interment services.
In a verdict made public on Thursday, the high court granted the petition filed by the Philippine government to review and set aside the two rulings of the Cagayan de Oro City Regional Trial Court.
The RTC issued separate resolutions in January and October 2018, concluding that the digging of land for the grave of the deceased, the concreting of the gravesite, and other services done during the actual burial are not covered by the statutorily mandated discount.
This stemmed from a special civil action filed by Pryce Corporation, Inc., a domestic company offering interment services. The firm contended that such services are not among those entitled to the discount under the amended Senior Citizens Act.
However, the SC said that while the amended law does not provide for an exact definition of the term “funeral and burial services,” it also does not limit the scope.
It pointed out that the phrase “other related services” does not refer only to the enumerated examples, and held that it follows that burial services necessarily include interment services.
“The Court added that as pointed out by Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier in her concurring opinion that it would be unreasonable to infer that Congress intended to differentiate between the deceased’s final solace for the purpose of granting the 20% discount, absent a clear legislative intent to the contrary,” the high court said in a press release.
The SC Public Information Office said the full text of the decision, penned by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda, will be uploaded to the SC website once it receives an official copy of the document.
