SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC), in a decision published on Thursday, March 16, ruled that interment services are covered by the 20% senior citizens’ discount on funeral and burial services.
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda, the High Court granted the petition for certiorari – a remedy used to review a previous decision by a court – filed by the Republic of the Philippines.
The decision set aside the January 18 and October 22, 2018 resolutions of Cagayan de Oro City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 17 that ordered the exclusion of interment services from the coverage of the funeral and burial services discount of senior citizens provided in Republic Act (RA) 7432 or the Senior Citizens Act, as amended by RA 9257 and 9994.
In its ruling, the SC said the Senior Citizens Act was passed to provide a “bundle” of benefits to Filipino citizens 60 years old and above. The High Court added that the law gives “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.”
According to the SC, the two amending laws of the Senior Citizens Act – RA 9257 and RA 9994 – do not provide an exact definition of “funeral and burial services,” but also do not limit the scope of the benefits under these services.
The High Court also noted that “burial services” can refer to any service that will be offered “in connection with the final disposition, entombment, or interment of human remains.” It also includes digging lands for graves, concreting it, and other acts done during burial ceremony, the SC added.
According to the SC, these points are supported by RA 9257 and 9994’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR), which are “substantially” the same and prescribed the rules on the application of 20% discount.
The high tribunal said the RTC’s exclusion of interment services in the discounted services is not stated in the law. The Senior Citizens Act and its amending laws’ IRR do not explicitly set aside interment services so it cannot be interpreted to uphold the RTC’s earlier decision, it added.
“It [SC] stressed that a law cannot be amended by a mere regulation, and the administrative agency issuing the regulation may not enlarge, alter, or restrict the provisions of the law it administers,” the High Court’s briefer reads.
Section 6 of RA 9994’s IRR provides a sample list of services covered by the discount. According to the High Court, the sample list is not exclusive, and the phrase “other related services” does not only refer to the services listed down. It added that the phrase did not exclude interment services.
The High Court said its interpretation was in line with the objectives of RA 9994, which echoes Section 4, Article 15 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. This provision states: “The family has the duty to care for its elderly members but the State may also do so through just programs of social security.”
Case background
The petition before the High Court was filed by the State through the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs and the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The Office of the Solicitor General, the government’s primary legal counsel, represented the State.
Meanwhile, the original case in the lower court was filed by respondent Pryce Corporation, Inc., which contended that interment service is not covered by the 20% discount. Pryce Corp. is in the business of selling memorial lots and providing interment services.
In its ruling, the RTC sided with the corporation and said RA 9994’s IRR only mentions the purchases of casket or urn, embalming, morgue, and transport of the remains to the burial site – and not interment.
“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,” the briefer explained. – Rappler.com
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