THE Cagayan de Oro City Council is set to invite owners of funeral parlors in the city next week to get their side regarding the proposal of the City Treasurer's Office to collect fees for every cremation service.
City Treasurer Lino Daral earlier proposed to collect P500 as fees for every cremation service done by authorized funeral parlors operating in the city.
Daral said the fees conform with the provision of Section 147 of Republic Act 7160 in the exercise of the city's regulatory and police powers.
However, Ging Achumbre, manager of Divine Shepherd Memorial Chapel in Barangay Bulua, said as practiced in the past, it is the client who pays the P500 fees.
She said it is only appropriate that the clients pay the fee since they, as the cremation company, are already paying taxes to the city government.
Divine Shepherd is the only funeral company in Northern Mindanao that offers cremation services.
Councilor Dante Pajo, chair of the City Council committee on health and social services, said with the entry of the cremation technology into the city, he filed an ordinance prohibiting the cremation of human remains without the necessary permit issued by the City Health Office.
The ordinance imposed fees for the issuance of cremation permits and providing penalty for violation and for other purposes.
Based on the proposed guidelines, all bodies to be cremated shall be reported to the City Health Office and no cremation shall be carried out until at least 48 hours have elapsed after the pronounced time of death. (TDCB with reports from The Power)