Manila Mayor Joseph E. Estrada has ordered an extensive citywide inspection of funeral parlors in the city following the discovery of a stockpile of rotting corpses at one establishment last week.
Estrada directed the Manila Health Department (MHD) to thoroughly inspect the business and sanitary permits of the funeral parlors, and see to it that no erring establishment is spared from this crackdown.
“If there are blatant violations, [we will order their] automatic closure. We will not be lenient on any funeral parlors that illegally operate, especially those which have serious issues on sanitation,” the Manila mayor said.
Estrada tasked MHD chief Dr. Benjamin Yson to field the department’s 57 sanitary inspectors to inspect all 40 registered funeral parlors and embalming establishments throughout the city.
Estrada also reminded Yson to be on lookout for phoney funeral parlors that operate “guerrilla style” or those that have no licenses from the city’s business permits office and MHD.
The citywide inspection started on Monday in Tondo, where two funeral parlors were found to have violations on their business and sanitary permits. They were identified as Funeraria San Rafael and Valley of Peace Funeral Services.
San Rafael has no permit since 2015, while Valley of Peace has serious discrepancies in its business permit, according to Boyet San Gabriel, chief of the MHD-Division of Sanitation.
Valley of Peace, San Gabriel explained, is registered as a Category 3 funeral business but functions as a Category 2, a serious violation of Ordinance 8331, or the Revenue Code of the city of Manila. It also does not have a sanitary permit.
A Category 3 funeral parlor must not have a viewing chapel and other services, which are allowed for Category 2 establishments, San Gabriel pointed out.
“As a Category 3, San Rafael should be just an office to accept customers. It can contract embalming and funeral wake services to other establishments,” he said.
San Gabriel said they have recommended the closure of San Rafael. Valley of Peace will be given time to correct its permit discrepancies.
As directed by Estrada, San Gabriel said they will file violations of Ordinance 8331 and Presidential Decree 856, or the Code on Sanitation of the Philippines, against unscrupulous funeral-parlor establishments.
“We will do these inspections every day, from Districts 1 to 6. We’ll make the rounds,” he said.
Last week Estrada ordered city health inspectors to look into the possible criminal liability of Archangel Funeral Homes in Sampaloc for its alleged improper handling and storage of decomposing corpses.
Estrada, after being briefed by San Gabriel, said he was aghast by the horrible condition of at least 23 unclaimed bodies stacked like cordwood at the funeral home, many of whom were already in advanced stage of decomposition.
According to San Gabriel, Archangel has started doing renovation work at its establishment to comply with the requirements set by the MHD-Division of Sanitation.
“[Archangel is] now correcting its lapses, otherwise, we will have no option but to shut it down permanently and hail it to court,” San Gabriel said.
Chapter 21 of the Sanitation Code provides the guidelines in the storage, embalming/dressing and disposal of “dead persons”, which San Gabriel said should be religiously complied by funeral and embalming establishments.
Except when required by legal investigation or when permitted by the local health authority, no unembalmed remains shall remain unburied longer than 48 hours after death, the law mandated.