BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance requiring funeral parlors in the city to employ female embalmers and morticians and perform duties in accordance to the gender of the deceased.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Lilia A. Fariñas stated all funeral parlors within the jurisdiction of the local government are required to coordinate with the Department of Health – Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CAR) as to the provision of trainings, certification and licensing of both male and female embalmers and morticians.
The DOH-CAR is being requested to provide a local committee of examiners undertakers and embalmers for the city and the region to facilitate the licensure and certification of candidates, with permission and authorization from the agency’s central office to practice embalming in accordance to the law.
In case that the request would be difficult or highly improbable or for reasons of lack of jurisdiction, the ordinance stated the DOH-CAR as tasked to identify possible institutions that may qualify for accreditation for the purpose of its implementation.
The created DOH-CAR committee of examiners for undertakers and embalmers or its equivalent accredited institutions shall ensure that only qualified individuals enter the regulated profession and that the care, and the services that the embalmers provide are within the standards of practice.
The ordinance added the committee shall provide the licensure requirements, trainings, certification, observance of lawful practice and all other duties as provided for by the agency.
Under the proposed ordinance, funeral parlors found and or otherwise have been reported to be violating the local legislative measure shall be fined P1,000 for the first offense, a fine of P3,000 for the second offense and a fine of P5,000 for the third offense.
The ordinance pointed in the context of being a just, humane and civil society, the Filipino culture gives utmost respect to the departed loved ones and although the deceased may have already been deprived of life, this does not mean that his or her rights as a person have also been extinguished by death.
She argued that it follows that the privacy of the deceased must be upheld by society just as when they were alive, most especially for departed women.
According to her, it is an apparent assumption, and more an irrefutable fact, that while the deceased would have been alive, they prefer their privacy respected, just as everybody else does irregardless of gender.
Based on the reliable information gathered by the proponent, funeral parlors, at least in the city, have male embalmers only to perform on the dead whether the deceased was a male or a female and if there were female embalmers or morticians, it was either rare or unheard of.
She underscored it is the primordial objective of the local legislative measure to protect the right to privacy of the deceased, especially women, by obligating funeral parlors within the city to provide female embalmers or morticians with respect to the gender of the deceased.
By Dexter A. See
