Free funeral services bill approved

The Senate on Monday, June 2, 2025, approved on third and final reading a bill that would give free funeral services to poor families who are in dire need and in crisis situations.

Senate Bill No. 2965 otherwise known as the Free Funeral Services Act, was sponsored by Sen. Imee R. Marcos.

According to the measure, poor refers to those families whose income falls below the poverty threshold as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and/or who cannot sustain or provide their minimum basic needs of food, health, education, housing, or other essential amenities of life as defined under Republic Act No. 8425, otherwise known as the "Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act."

Free funeral services shall be provided to families who are in crisis situations, as determined by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), including but not limited to indigent families, or those affected by calamities, disasters, or other emergency circumstances that prevent them from affording dignified funeral services.

Qualified poor family will be given "Indigent Funeral Package" which includes preparation of funeral documents, embalming, interment or burial services, transport, cremation, and inurnment services, including the provision of a casket, urn, or venue, as the case may be, offered by funeral establishments.

Free funeral services shall be provided to poor families per death of a family member by accredited funeral establishments anywhere in the country, provided that every funeral establishment shall have a uniform indigent funeral package, regardless of such establishment's type or location available to all poor families, as determined by and in coordination with the DSWD.

As part of the requirements for availing the indigent funeral package, the bereaved family or representative must present the following: Valid identification card of the claimant or beneficiary; (b) Death certificate issued by the hospital or city/municipal health office, or certification from the tribal chieftain; (c) Funeral contract signed by the representative of the deceased's family, the funeral establishment, and an authorized DSWD personnel; and (d) Social case study prepared by any registered social worker.