Live in the Philippines

Live in the Philippines helps expats with visas, moving and other services regarding the Philippines.

What if I die in the Philippines?

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Death is not a fun topic.  Nobody is going to get all excited to talk about death in the Philippines.  It is a fact of life, though, and we really should make plans for what will happen in the event of our death.

Recently, I got a question from Paul regarding death.  Paul was wondering what would happen if you are an expat living in the Philippines and you die.  I mean, is it legal for a foreigner to be buried in the Philippines?  Must your body be repatriated back to your home country?  It is a good question, and one that I don’t recall being discussed in any online forums or blogs in the past.  Certainly, it may have been talked about, I simply do not recall seeing it, though.

A funeral in the Philippines?
A funeral in the Philippines?

This is a topic that I have discussed with Feyma, and with some of my American family in the past.  There was a time when my mother in the USA asked me what I would want to do if I were to die here.  She expected that I would want to have my body shipped back “home” for burial.  I think she was a bit surprised when I told her that as far as I was concerned, the Philippines was my home, and I would prefer to simply be cremated here in the Philippines and have my ashes spread in some appropriate place here.

What about you?  Do you have plans for what will happen in case of your demise?  Making a plan ahead of time will help ease the burden on your family, for sure.  So, have you done it?

Listen to the podcast and hear what the legalities are of a foreigner being buried in the Philippines.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

    • I don’t know about Davao, but, as Bud wrote, there is one in Dumaguette and one in Cagayan de Oro. My Mother (age 97) die here. Bob, you might consider writing a column about the death reporting procedures for U.S. Citizens here, dealing with SSS, getting wills probated back in the U.S. and so on. A bit complicated when just U.S. citizenship. FYI, creamation cost us about 24k and transportation Dipolog-Cagayan about the same.

  4. My friend died two years ago. He wanted cremated so I had to box up his body and ship it to Dumagutte on the boat. What a mess. He had no wife here and he was Dual Citizen of Poland and USA. Had to work with both governments to get permission to depose of the body. Also he had a daughter in Poland I had to work with.. It took 18 days for all the paper work to go through and P80,000 for the bill. I have insurance here in the Philippines to take care of my funeral. Should be no problem. If you are a vet and file the proper papers they will take care of most of it.

  8. I don’t know about the legality of death in the Philippines, but the practicality is ….
    With parents long predeceased, there’s no one outside of the Philippines who would care about my death. I somehow doubt the government back there would be interested in paying to receive and dispose of my remains..
    Whereas here at home in the Philippines, my wife, kids, and extended family will surely properly take care of my final send-off, then “visit” me periodically locally. I already told them not to spend big bunches of money, instead constructively use what I’ve provided for their futures. Just be sure that I’m really dead then fertilize the crops with my ashes and perhaps place a simple marker.
    As per Pinoy custom, someone will eventually get around to telling the NSO about it well after the fact, and then NSO will notify BI (Bureau of Immigration). Being a “foreigner” (though legal immigrant), there are no Philippine SSS death benefits to consider.
    As to financial matters, basically everything of tangible value is already here and in my wife’s name, so it will be a simple matter for the executor of my estate (a trusted Pinoy brother-in-law who should outlive me by a few decades) to finalize, and to send my death-certificate to the insurance company to get them to disburse to my wife and kids according to my filed instructions. They in turn will surely need to file that with the Canadian government, who will take me off the tax rolls and clawback any possible pension or survivor benefits from there. As for my business there, it only has value as long as I’m around to produce that value daily; without me it will cease to practically exist, so let the government and the banks there fight over it. All very simple.

  15. There is a crematorium in CDO, I believed owned by a gentleman from Pagadian City, who told me, about a year ago, that he was thinking of putting one in Pagadian City also……as far as I know it’s not been built yet.

  16. Yes, no problem for a foreigner to be buried in the Philippines. My asawa and I have plots at Forest Lake near Maa, Davao City; beautiful, well kept, and nature themed. I do know that the cost of shipping a body back to the US is very high and, I believe, that each state that the plane passes over collects an additional fee.

  17. The Catholic Church does not condone cremations, but if you do, the church encourages you to bury the ashes. Casting the ashes around is not permitted here.

    If you are Muslim, you will not be cremated.

    Any American can be buried here, anyplace(legal) that the family here decides. It must be in a provincial cemetery, a memorial garden, or an already established family plot.

    The death of a US citizen MUST be reported to the US Embassy.

    Those who have had conversations with their wives about their eminent deaths, should count themselves among the luckiest here. Most of the wives here will almost run screaming from the house at the very thought of discussing you death. In the years I’ve been here, the wife and I have discussed this issue, maybe three times. It usually goes like this: ME; “Hon we should go to the funeral home and make advance arrangements”. MY WIFE: “I don’t want to talk about it” End of conversation..

      • I’ve attended burials here in some very remote places and my wife has passed up many properties because there’s a “cemetery” nearby, often with only a handful of very old graves – and those are just the ones that one can plainly see.
        That and there’s either a lot of old septic ‘tanks’ behind this rental house or there are some bones under those various small concrete slabs out back. I’m in no hurry to find out. I doubt you can walk very far with walking on someone’s grave to the extent that one might think that anywhere someone is buried must be a “provincial cemetery”. Puts an extra spin on the term ‘graveyard’. If it’s a yard behind your house then it likely has at least one grave in it.
        No wonder Filipinos are extraordinary superstitious. My wife insists there are ghosts in every house we’ve rented since I’ve known her. My former gf also insisted there were graves under the house I built for us (her) back then; of course that was *after* we bought the lot and built and paid for the house; I wonder if she’s still there with those ghosts.

    • That would make perfect sense in the Philippines:
      “CCTV Funeral parlor and Videoke Disco-Bar”
      “Vulcanizing, halal bulalohan and shoe-repair”
      “Surplus motor(cycles), hollowblock – notary-public, massage and dentista available”
      “Money-changer – we accept PhilHealth”.
      You only need to drive down the street to die laughing.
      The largest chinese-fast-food chain in the Philippines isn’t Chow King – it’s
      No
      Par
      King
      At least 3 on *every* block, well disguised.

  20. When the time comes, as it surely will, your family or friends will firstly need to get a death certificate from a doctor/physician. This needs to be forwarded to the local health officer and from there to the office of the Civil Registrar in the town or city where the death occurred. You can’t be legally buried or cremated in the Philippines without the Certificate of Death.

    Your family / friends should also register the death with your Embassy and for this they are likely to need an NSO certified copy of the death certificate (which can be applied for online). I’m not sure about other nationalities, but in the case of British passport holders, registering the death with the embassy means your next of kin will get a British-style death certificate and the death will be registered at the General Register Office in the UK. This will make it very much easier for the executor of your will to dispose of any assets, close bank accounts, etc. etc. back in your country of birth.

    Knowing that it’s going to happen sometime, I’ve written a set of step by step instructions on what my wife and kids need to do and put it along with my will in an envelope marked “What To Do When I Die”.

    • Hi Richard. I am sorry, since I am not a veteran, I don’t know about VA issues. Hopefully somebody who knows better than I do will jump in with an answer.

  23. Hi Bob,
    To take it a step further, although burial or cremation is pretty straight forward I guess; the cost of a funeral can vary based on whether you are cremated or interred in a family mausoleum or buried in separate plot. If your spouse and extended family end up going the route of having a short or nine day novena, and depending on the funeral home involved and accompanying church and funeral procedures and foods involved, it can either be pretty reasonable or pretty expensive.

    I think that sometimes family wishes could trump out over personal wishes sometimes too, as many Filipinos don’t really feel comfortable with cremation, and many have long standing traditions about how deceased family members should be laid to rest. Witnessing All Souls Day is a testament to this.
    I guess there are plans that can be purchased ahead of time to cover whatever choices are desired, be it for you or your spouse.
    Something to consider whether you are married or not.

    • Hi Queenie, nice to hear from you. Certainly all of your points are on target. I think in my case, Feyma and my kids would honor my wishes, in fact I am certain of it.

      • I agree with you Bob, that my husband and son would do as I asked also.

        Ultimately though there will be considerations and costs involved, and although morbid to think about, maybe advanced planning is something to possibly consider or plan for. I know that my desires, although I’m not really sure what they would ultimately be, could possibly differ from what my husband would choose for himself.
        This is an important topic that has been brought up. Just one of the many things to consider when living out your days in the Philippines I guess.

  24. Bob,

    A ghoulish question I have to ask….it was halloween week after all. I have 13(a) visa, and my wife is a Philippine citizen and I am a Westerner. What if I went on a near by trip to Thailand and died there of a heart attack ? Can my body be brought back legally to the Philippines by my wife ? will the 13(a) ……………..permit entry ?…………

    • Quite an interesting question, “worried”. I had never considered that before…. if the body of a foreigner could be sent TO the Philippines in such an event. I will need to research this a bit before I could answer, because honestly, I have no idea!

      • That’s an excellent question.
        As I mentioned in another reply, the Pinay widow of my US-citizen friend who died abroad on his way home to here, attended to his burial in the US. I don’t know if they had prior arrangements or if he had living family in the US. I’ll ask my wife to ask some polite questions and post if I get anything more on that.

  27. I met 2 men that died in the Philippines both guys wives had a hard time handling the burial …the funeral directors think that they were rich and tried to really overcharge them….plus the men didn’t have their wives open to their finances or on their bank accounts …so the wives n families were broke …both were buried in the public cemetery in Toril ….sad situation.

    • I had an American friend, the only only other foreigner in my locale that i’m aware of. He left for contract work a few months ago and I learned that he sadly passed away on his way home (to here). According to my wife who I understand is in contact with his widow …
      – she traveled to the US using a visa that was already in progress for her and buried him there, then returned home.
      – she had no problem buying a new car within 3 months of my friend’s demise.
      So I’m told.

  29. I decided yonkers ago that I wanted to be cremated and have the ashes cast into a river so that there would be no headstone or marker that my wife or kids would feel obliged to visit during the All Souls holiday. I also detest the idea on an open-casket viewing of my cadaver: as far as I’m concerned, once I’ve gone I’ve gone and and if people can’t remember what I looked like when I was alive then why do they need to see me when I’ve passed away.

    However, I’m in much the same situation as that mentioned by Francesco San Giorgio in that my wife, who is a church-going Catholic, doesn’t want to talk about such matters and can’t understand why anyone would want to be cremated – thus simulating being cast into the fires of hell when they die.

    Now you can get around this under British law by including a simple condition such as “I direct that my body be cremated within two-days of my death and that all my debts, funeral and testamentary expenses be paid as soon as is convenient after my death. In the event that these conditions are not met then I direct that my entire estate be given to the subject to the payment of any tax”.

    However, a far more forceful way of avoiding open-casket viewing and burial has been to tell my wife that unless I’m cremated within two-days of my death I’ll come back and haunt her for the rest of her time and that this will include all fresh water and cooked rice in the house tasting of vinegar!

    • that should read “that my entire estate be given to the – Name your favourite charity- subject to the payment of any tax”.

    • Hi Malcolm – While I agree that every person has their own personal wishes that should be followed, and it is a personal choice… I find it a bit harsh to put things in a way that your wife and children would be unable to visit you and such. For me, I would tend to say yes.. cremate, spread the ashes at a place that you would wish… but have some kind of spot where there would be a memorial that your loved ones could visit and honor you. Of course that is my personal choice. For me, though, why thumb your nose at the culture of the people that you love? Trying to prove a personal point after you have already died seems harsh and unnecessary to me.

    • Thanks for that info Malcolm. It wasn’t an issue when my wife could have literally dragged me to be cremated down the street in Cavite, but now we’re in Mindanao and this thread informs me it’s not so easy, I’ll have to revisit that topic with her. Today, expecting delivery of our 5th baby any day now is perhaps not the best time to revisit this topic with her. In any event, I need to work to put the kids through college then achieve the proper retirement age of 90; I’m not permitted to die prematurely. 🙂
      The bottom line is that we will all surely die, and should I predecease her I want her to use whatever money she has and I can further leaver her, to the benefit of our kids and herself. Knowing that will be my greatest comfort come death.

  31. Millet gave information about crematorium in Davao. She is a known and trusted source, Malcolm. I would not discount what she says. Information on the internet can be outdated.

  32. Aw diay, well, there you go, so there are 2 in Davao,must say I have been to Davao Memorial park and never noticed one there …usually the smoke gives them away ! (:-))

      • Sorry, Ed, as I already told you the other day… I speak no Tagalog. I can converse with you in Bisaya, but since I know that you speak no Bisaya, I just use our common language.. English.

        • No problem Bob, we each learned our respective Pinoy languages based on location. I’ll still occasionally provide Tagalog mentions but with English meanings. I encourage you to do the same so that we can all expand our learning curves. I hope everyone does. The one thing I surely know is that I always need to learn MORE. 🙂

  43. Randalngina issues like this is way my wife knows everything about what we have just as she is part of the decisions of what to do with it. Our bank accounts are not mine they are ours. So I treat them as such. And we both have burial insurance here. Makes life so much easier.

  44. One of the guys that died was young like 42 and he had 2 filam kids and his wife was pregnant…he died of a diabetic issue in the shower had a seizure then a heart attack…his wife delivered a week later….he didn’t have his wife on his check account n couldn’t access money….but someone helped them get it fixed but took several months…he’s buried in a ugly place .

  47. I remember the woman was selling everything just to get the guy buried….all his computers n gear etc. At least he got his children a American passport before he passed so they got his ss check every month now. His wife was from the provinces n didn’t speak much English.

  48. Hi Bob,

    I just wanted to weigh in on this and I think you touched on it on a response to a comment. For me funerals and graves are at least as much or more for the living than the dead. The funeral is a chance to say good bye or see you later hopefully much later depending on your religious belief or lack there of.

    In Filipino culture visiting graves is common and not just on the Day of the Dead and Death Anniversary. For me even before I married a Filipino and became Catholic, when at the grave site of a person I loved I would talk to them silently. They don’t talk back and I am not sure whether they are aware of what I am saying or not, but I find it comforting to do so. I think about my Mom who passed away 2 weeks after our eldest son’s birth, but I don’t visit her grave as often as I would like and it is a different experience at least for me to visit a grave site. I would prefer to be buried hopefully no time soon in a place where people would visit my grave.

    Take care!

    Jay

    • Hi Jay – For me, I believe that funerals and basically everything that happens after our death is for the benefit of our survivors. Such things have no real affect on the dead, in my view. 🙂

  49. I was just chatting with Maria. Her husband died in 2009. I think he was American. She is over it now. She lives not too far from you Bob (Iligan City). Maybe you go there sometimes.

  50. Hi Robert – I have been to Iligan many times. It might look on a map like it is “not too far” from where I live.. but that’s about a 9 hour drive! 🙂

  51. I was thinking about it all day and talked to wife about it. If we were to be buried back home who visit my grave? I was wondering if the Pilgrims ever talked about it. If people ever sent their love ones back to Europe, The whole continent would have been nothing but graveyards.

  54. I think you guys are miss g the point. Your funeral won’t be about you as for your wishes I think it is so cute that you have some. I wanted to be cremated and then have my ashes spread over the reef where I have spearfished almost everyday for the past ten years. Well forget that as some have mentioned the Catholics frown on cremation and my wife won’t have it. what she will have is dog and pony show that demonstrates to everyone how much she loved me and how important I was. The status of the affair will rule over the economic sanity of it. She loves me as much as I love here but I’ll be dead and don’t forget Facebook pictures must clearly depict the proper pomp and circumstance of it. I fear many will have a hoover deluxe vacuum cleaner in her checkbook and as the balance dwindles so demonstrates her love for me.

    When ever I bring up the subject and try to rationally express my concern about establishing some sort of parameters she retorts”Who knows maybe I am the first to go” Well I am 17 years her senior so it is unlikely but not impossible. So I tell here if she is the first to go I will have to men come in the middle of the night with a large hefty bag and bury her on the beach in front of our house. Total cost maybe 600p. She is less amused that I suspect some of you are but then again once I am gone do as you please. One more point about the legality of dying in the Philippines if it isn’t permitted then we are all safe forever.

    • I am certain that my wife and family will follow my wishes. The fact that your wife won’t follow your requests… well.. I guess I could say it’s “cute” to me, using your wording.

    • “Hnery” (your parents were dyslexic filling out your birth-certificate?),

      Though I may be a “senior” and exactly twice my wife’s age today, more so when we met years ago, she now admits that she’s learned a few things since she met me, including increasingly to listen to me and do what I say because ultimately and especially subsequent to my inevitable demise, she can’t afford not to in the here and now today while I’m still living. Yes, your younger wife may well pre-decease you, you never know! We plan on life but we know death will come, we just don’t know when and how. Most of my old (though younger) friends are already dead.

      We do *NOT* do annoying “in-your-Facebook”, abomination that. If you know us you’ll know where to find us, and if you don’t know us then it’s not for perpetual public ogling and Facebook profit.

      I do like your comment: “One more point about the legality of dying in the Philippines if it isn’t permitted then we are all safe forever.” Sadly it’s still impossible to effectively legislate permanent prevention of death.

  61. I’ve had a great life in the Philippines, best times of my life, though many friends have passed, and there have been no shortages of challenges, some how my life makes sense there