BAGUIO CITY—The business of caring for the dead is both a science and an art.
And for the Philippine Mortuary Association (PMA), the science and art comes with igniting the passion and upgrading the skills of those who work in the death care industry.
“We want to professionalize the industry more, we would like to go to the next level,” Renato Dychangco, PMA president, says during the group’s 7th national convention here.
Renato Tanquintic, chair of the national convention, says the industry values respect for the dead so their group regularly discusses issues, trends and problems affecting the industry to improve their service.
“It is about taking care of the dead, it is about giving them dignity and respect. This is a thriving business,” Tanquintic explains. “In the 1980s, there were only few mortuary owners and operators, and this has since increased threefold.”
The Philippines, Dychangco says, has at least 20,000 mortuaries, hence the importance of addressing their issues and concerns.
Attended by some 300 members, most of them funeral parlor owners and morticians, the convention, held from March 21-23, provided sessions on the latest technology on embalming, forensics, techniques on incision, best products, coping with and responding to disasters, and specialized embalming methods for infants.
Booths that displayed funeral and embalming products, the latest models of caskets, embalming equipment, urns and airbrush makeup were put up in the convention hall.
Dychangco says services provided by the country’s funeral parlors have been improving because owners are updating their skills and knowledge and because they listen to their clients.
“We have a way of making the dead smile; there is a technology for that. [We also use] a mouth sealer and an eye cap, which is like contact lens so the eyes of the dead would not open,” he says.
According to Tanquintic, one of the latest technologies in preserving the body is freezing, which is used by most funeral parlors in Europe.
He says PMA members want to correct the notion that dying in the Philippines has become expensive.
“The body is sacred, it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We cannot just discard a body. By giving this service, we are also showing love for the person, we show love for our neighbor as the Bible says. This is not only about business, it is also giving service to our brethren, giving him the dignity that he deserved,” Tanquintic says.
Fernando Reyes, president of the Philippine Embalmers and Morticians Association, says it is the right of every person to have a dignified funeral.
While a funeral service may cost more than P1 million, funeral parlors also provide free services to poor clients as part of their corporate social responsibility.
Reyes says industry stakeholders are working to set standards and provide skills upgrading for embalmers by 2014.
“There were embalmers before who did not even finish high school. But now there are schools for embalming for those who want to pursue [this career]. One cannot have a license if he has not undergone a monthlong training, if he does not have a one-year experience and has not conducted at least 10 embalming procedures,” he explains.
The country, Reyes says, has at least 4,000 licensed embalmers and at least five schools and training facilities for embalmers.
Socorro Aloran, PMA secretary, says subjects such as body preservation, anatomy, psychology, and laws and jurisprudence, may now be found in schools that offer courses on embalming.
Of the 200 examiners who took the licensure exam for embalmers in 2011, 150 passed, Aloran says.
Even doctors and nurses take embalming training, she adds.