Senator Grace Poe on Thursday has filed a measure seeking to uphold the rights of the deceased.
Senate Bill No. 1229 or the proposed Burial Assistance Act of 2016 seeks to expand the burial assistance program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development to cover burial assistance to indigent deceased persons whose bodies remain unclaimed or unidentified, regardless of the cause of death, whether crime-related or not.
Burial assistance as defined under Poe’s bill shall include sums and services that cover the costs of the casket or urn, embalming, cremation, and other related services such as viewing or wake cost, pick-up from the hospital morgue, and transport of the body to the intended burial site. The assistance, however, shall not exceed P10,000 or its adjusted value after every six years.
“Justice should be afforded to the dead, whether unidentified or unclaimed, or whether he or she is a minor, especially when such death is due to suspicious circumstances,” Poe said.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church has released a booklet that will guide the Filipino faithful in offering prayers for the dead as millions are expected to pay respects to their departed loved ones this All Saints’ Day.
“To support the Church’s effort to clarify popular customs of visits to cemeteries and other occasions such as wakes or funerals, the Catholic church produced ‘Prayers for the Dead’—a handy booklet to help strengthen Catholics’ faith in the face of the death and to guide them in offering suffrages for the dead,” the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said.
The book’s author, Fr. Charles Belmonte, a theologian with more than 30 years of pastoral work experience in the country, said that even in these high-tech times, devotionals like “Prayers for the Dead” are still relevant.
“First, our goodwill for the dead is seldom adequately supported by solid Catholic doctrine. We find ourselves at a loss, not knowing what to say or do. Second, the booklet will help deepen our faith and enhance our piety for the dead, providing us with appropriate prayers and rites. It presents the Church’s genuine teaching on the commemoration of the dead that will free the faithful from traces of superstition that unfortunately have found their way into some practices through the years,” Belmonte said.
“Oftentimes, these gatherings turn into mere reunions, or worse, into gambling or drinking sprees. [But] praying for the dead is one of the spiritual works of mercy. From the very earliest days, the Christian religion has honored with great respect the memory of the dead and the Church offers suffrages for them,” Belmonte added.