Funeral home presses City Hall over unpaid bills

CEBU, Philippines — St. Francis Memorial Homes has urged the Cebu City Government to settle ?766,000 in long-overdue payments for funeral services provided to indigent residents, questioning why City Hall could swiftly approve financial assistance to Rotary Club while leaving its obligations to service providers unpaid for years.

In an open letter dated September 24, 2026, Chief Operations Officer Atty. Zigfred M. Diaz appealed to Mayor Nestor Archival, Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña and the City Council to finally resolve the outstanding payments for funeral services dating back to 2015.

Diaz pointed to the release of more than ?1 million in financial assistance to Rotary, saying the move highlighted the contrast between the city’s ability to act quickly on some requests and its failure to settle long-standing obligations.

“The recent release of more than ?1 million in financial assistance to Rotary forces us to ask a simple question: Why can Cebu City Hall act quickly when it chooses to, yet remain unable to pay obligations for funeral services rendered to its own indigent constituents more than a decade ago?” Diaz wrote.

He acknowledged that the unpaid obligations did not originate under Archival’s administration but stressed that resolving them now rests with the current city leadership.

“Mayor Archival, you did not create this more than a decade problem. But you are Mayor now, and responsibility for finally resolving it rests with your administration,” Diaz said.

He added that repeated appeals to previous mayors, including the late Edgardo Labella, Michael Rama and Raymond Alvin Garcia, had failed to produce results.

According to St. Francis Memorial Homes, the ?766,000 in outstanding payments covers ?496,000 for funeral services rendered from November 2015 to April 2016; ?200,000 for 10 COVID-19-related burials at ?20,000 each; ?40,000 for a funeral related to a Department of Public Services truck accident; ?15,000 for the burial of Erwin Ilagan, guaranteed by Labella; and another ?15,000 for the burial of Hansel Dayondon, also committed under Labella’s administration.

Despite letters sent to Archival’s administration in July 2025 and January 2026, Diaz said no concrete action had been taken and their documents “continue to gather dust” at the Department of Social Welfare and Services.

Burial aid delays

Delays in burial assistance have long burdened grieving families in Cebu City.

In May 2026, Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. lamented that bereaved households often wait months to a year to receive the city’s ?10,000 burial assistance.

“While tears are still falling and prayers are still being whispered beside a coffin, many families are forced to face another painful reality—where to find money to bury their dead,” Alcover said.

In 2023, the City Council passed an ordinance authored by Councilor Rey Gealon prohibiting funeral homes from denying services because of nonpayment and requiring establishments to honor promissory notes to protect indigent families.

The latest appeal from St. Francis Memorial Homes has also renewed scrutiny of City Hall’s spending priorities following the controversy over the proposed Rotary subsidy.

Councilor Harold Go earlier criticized the ?1 million allocation as excessive, arguing that the money should instead be directed to urgent social needs, such as food for children at Operation Second Chance or medicines for indigent patients.

Rotary later signaled its intention to decline the assistance following public backlash. — (FREEMAN)