It was a typical Friday night but it went terribly wrong. In one of the crowded bus lines in Metro Manila, Danny was patiently waiting for the bus to start its trip. It was late because he worked long hours every day to support his family. He is a father of four and husband to a hard-working wife, Marissa, who manages their small home-based sari-sari store. It was a long trip and he dozed-off. At some point the bus picked-up speed that rocked Danny to an even deeper sleep. Then, something tragic happened. Another massive vehicle, racing past the bus, lost control and they collided hard. It hit the side where Danny was at. Though help came and they did all they could, Danny didn’t make it. Marissa was overwhelmed with grief. Even then, she couldn’t help but ask how can she support her kids and more urgently, with what money is she going to use to give Danny the final goodbye that he deserves.
Danny and Marissa’s story is not new to many of us. We go about our lives just like any other day then suddenly something that everyone knows may happen, actually happens – accidents. And in the most devastating of cases, it may lead to the death of a loved one. It is only then that we realize we fail to consider the cost of losing the loved one that the family relies on most. No matter what our financial capacity is, we never fall short of giving a family member who passed away the best, most affectionate and memorable send-off until he is brought to his final resting place. We do this despite its effect in our financial stability, even to the extent of sacrificing some family needs.
High cost in burials is not strange to us Filipinos as local funerals are often expensive and are a community affair. The cost of a funeral service and cremation is P58,250 to P705,000, while funeral service and burial can cost as much as P2,073,000. The government has raised funeral benefits of public and private sector employees to P30,000 as per Executive Order No. 33 but is still short of what is required for a decent and proper send-off that is expected from a family who may not be financially prepared.
Over in South Africa, a solution to this has been popular for quite some time. Funerals in South Africa cost between USD1,200 and USD2,500. Coupled with high unemployment rate, increase in household dependents and cultural symbolism of a lavish funeral, the cost of losing a loved one is burdensome to many families.5 That’s why insurance companies have provided over 7.6 million policy holders burial insurance.
Malayan Insurance understands this burden and we’re bringing Burial Assistance to you. Malayan’s Burial Assistance provides indemnity for accidental death through burial expense, funeral service expense, funeral services, burial services as well as cost of casket or urn. Burial Assistance covers you for a year for only Php500. You also have the option to include other benefits such as expenses for publication, catering, transportation, hotel accommodation of your loved ones and more. Not only is this something that you can get for yourself and family, this is something that can be offered as benefit to employees of the company you work in. For more information about how you and your company can get Burial Assistance from Malayan Insurance, send as an email at ecommerce@Malayan.com.
Notes
1 Balbadosa, D. eCompareMo.com. “How Much Funeral Costs In The Philippines”. (https://www.ecomparemo.com/info/infographic-how-much-a-funeral-costs-in-the-philippines/)
2 Placido, D. ABS CBN News. “Duterte OKs P10,000 hike in workers’ funeral benefits”. (http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/19/17/duterte-oks-p10000-hike-in-workers-funeral-benefits)
3 Why South Africa’s funeral insurance industry is growing rapidly by Cornelis Van Der Waal on Oct. 13, 2016.
Written by Kristina Relampagos
