QuestionsQuestions (DTI DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 10-04)
The rules apply to crematories, funeral and embalming establishments, medical and research institutions, undertakers and embalmers, public and private burial grounds, and other similar institutions, whether operated by government agencies/instrumentalities (including GOCCs), private organizations/firms/individuals, or other entities.
Cremation is a process that reduces human remains to bone fragments of fine sand or ashes through combustion and dehydration. Crematorium is any place duly authorized by law to cremate dead persons. Remains include the body or parts of the body of a dead person including cremated remains. Cremains are the ashes resulting from cremation of a dead body.
Key requirements include: (1) application; (2) resolution of the city/municipal council for strict compliance; (3) triplicate map with 25–50 meter zones, dwellings, and water sources; (4) title of ownership; (5) sanitary engineer certification on land suitability (water table depth, flood level, run-off, drainage, distance to dwellings/water sources, and potable water source/well); (6) plan for a perimeter wall/fence; (7) plan for a chapel/assembly structure; (8) road plans; (9) topographic map; and (10) technical description details (dimensions, compass orientation, land/residential owners within 25m, distances from permanent topographical objects, etc.).
For private burial grounds/places of enshrinement, the clearance requires compliance with specific parts of Section 3.1 (for public) plus additional items: a council resolution permitting establishment, planning office site-location certification, engineer certification conforming to the National Building Code, minimum size of 1.2 hectares with a buffer zone of 50 meters around the interment area, limits on niches (e.g., at least 10 niches occupying no more than 30 sq. meters at the center), further strict limits on additional niches, and strict watertight enclosure design including a 5 cm noncorrosive weep hole and proper drainage/venting configuration.
Before operation, the regional health office must conduct a validation/inspection for compliance with the applicable requirements, and the regional health director issues an operational clearance. This becomes the basis for issuance of the sanitary permit by the local health office.
No remains may be buried or cremated without a death certificate. The death certificate must be issued by the attending government or private physician. In extreme cases with no attending physician, it may be issued by the city/municipal health officer, mayor, secretary of the municipal board, or a councilor where the death occurred, based on a reliable informant’s affidavit stating the circumstances regarding the cause of death.
The death must be reported to the local health officer within 48 hours after death, and the death certificate must be forwarded to the local civil registrar within 30 days after death for registration.
A death certificate must be secured, a transfer permit must be secured from the local health authority of the point of origin, the remains must be properly embalmed, and a transit permit must be secured from places they pass through if required by local ordinances. Shipments to and from abroad follow National Quarantine Office rules.
Graves must be at least 1.5 meters deep and filled well and firmly. No remains may be buried in a grave where the water table is less than 2 meters deep from the natural ground surface.
The nearest kin in this order: (1) spouse; (2) descendants in the nearest degree; (3) ascendants in the nearest degree; and (4) brothers and sisters. If nearest kin is absent or not financially capable, the cost is borne by the city or municipal government.
The health officer must immediately notify the concerned PNP or NBI. If the cause was due to violence/crime, the deceased cannot be buried until permission is obtained from the provincial or city prosecutor where the death occurred (or, in absence, from listed officials such as city/municipal judge, mayor, or chief of police).
No unembalmed dead body may remain unburied longer than 48 hours after death, except when permitted by the local health authority for valid reasons such as flood, calamities, and disasters (and cause of death is not a dangerous communicable disease), provided the limit is still not more than 72 hours regardless of cause when legal investigation is needed.
The remains must be buried within 12 hours after death; must not be taken to any place of public assembly; only adult members of the family may attend the funeral; the remains must be placed in a durable, airtight, and sealed casket; and no permit shall be granted for the transfer of such remains.
Permission may be granted after the bodies have been buried for a period of three (3) years (unless special cases justify a shorter period with approval of the regional health director). Upon exhumation, remains must be disinfected and placed in a sealed coffin case/box, properly identified with name, date, cause of death, and place of reinterment. Exhumation and transfer permits from the point of origin and death and reburial permits from the reinterment place are required.
Bodies/remains of persons who died of a dangerous communicable disease may be exhumed after a lapse of five (5) years. Remains must be disinfected and placed in a hermetically sealed container, properly identified (name, date, cause, and place of origin). Exhumation and transfer permits from point of origin, death certificate, and reburial permit at place of reinterment are required.