TRAIN Law affects even the dead — Bayan Muna

As All Souls’ Day draws nearer, a lawmaker warned the public that the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, coupled with the skyrocketing inflation rate, affects not just the living but even the dead.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said the rise in prices of goods had not only eroded the public’s purchasing power but had also increased the cost of dying.

“Hindi lang mga buhay ang nasasagasaan ng TRAIN, pero pati mga patay na rin. Sa minimum ay tumaas ng P1,000 ang funeral services sa ngayon, hindi pa kasama dito ang kabaong, lupa sa sementeryo at mismong pagpapalibing,” he said in a statement.

(Not only are the living being run over by TRAIN, but the dead are, too. The prices of funeral services have risen by P1,000, and the coffin, land in the cemetery, and the burying services aren’t even included yet.)

READ: Zarate: Train law slows down PH economic growth

Zarate then called the House leadership to fast-track the passage of Bayan Muna’s House Bill 3028 which proposes the grant of 50 percent discount in funeral services fees for the deceased whose family is indigent.

The bill also mandates that dead persons belonging to “extremely poor” families should be given free funeral services.

“As the technical working group tackles this measure when the House resumes its session on November, we hope that the House leaders would also fast-track the bill’s passage so that poor families would not have to shell out more just to bury their loved ones,” the progressive lawmaker stressed.

“They are already grieving from their loss, it is doubly tragic that they should also be burdened to bury their dead,” he added. /je