An Act Regulating the Establishment and Maintenance of Burial Grounds and Cemeteries, and Governing Public Funerals and the Disposal of the Dead in the Philippine Islands, Outside the City of Manila, and for Other Purposes

February 21, 1906

ACT NO. 1458

AN ACT REGULATING THE ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF BURIAL GROUNDS AND CEMETERIES, AND GOVERNING PUBLIC FUNERALS AND THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, OUTSIDE THE CITY OF MANILA, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SECTION 1. This Act shall apply and be effective throughout the Philippine Islands, except in the city of Manila, which shall be governed by the provisions of the Sanitary Code of Manila, provided for in Act Numbered Eleven hundred and fifty.

SECTION 2. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, or for any order or society of persons, or for any corporation or corporations, or for any church or other organization whatsoever, to bury or inter the dead, or to use any land or lands, in any way whatsoever, as a burial place or as temporary or permanent place of interment or disposal of the dead, within fifty meters of either side of any river, or within fifty meters of any spring, well, or other source of water supply: PROVIDED, That the Director of Health may, in his discretion, authorize the continuance of any burial ground, cemetery, or other place for the temporary or permanent disposal of the dead, not meeting the requirements of this section, which may have been established prior to the passage of this Act.

SECTION 3. After the passage of this Act, no burial ground or cemetery shall be authorized or established, which shall not be at least twenty-five meters from any dwelling house: PROVIDED, That abandoned houses, or houses used by employees or attendants of the cemetery, and houses used for administrative or other necessary purposes, connected with the cemetery, shall not, within the meaning of this Act, be considered as dwelling houses: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That it shall be the duty of the person or persons, or of the order or society of persons, or of the corporation or corporations, or of the church or other organization establishing such cemetery, to maintain an open space, unobstructed by habitations or other structures, of at least twenty-five meters on all sides of said burial ground or cemetery, except as hereinbefore provided.

SECTION 4. Subject to the approval of the Director of Health, the council of any municipality may set apart any tract of land, or part thereof, belonging to the municipality, which it may deem advisable, for a municipal burial ground or cemetery, and may designate any portion thereof as a place of burial for the poor, and may lay out the remaining unoccupied portion in suitable lots, with the necessary paths, avenues, or other reserved spaces, and may plant and embellish the same with trees, shrubs and flowers and other suitable ornaments, and the said council or any person designated by it, may grant and convey for and in the name of the municipality, by deed or other legal conveyance, lots in such burial ground or cemetery, to be used for the burial of the dead, and on which to erect tombs, cenotaphs, and other monuments. Land so acquired shall be exempt from taxation, attachment or levy of execution.

SECTION 5. The proceeds realized from the sale of cemetery lots in a municipal burial ground or cemetery shall be deposited in the municipal, treasury and kept separate from other funds and may be disbursed by order of the municipal council, upon properly prepared and signed vouchers, for the purpose of keeping in order, improving, and embellishing said burial ground or cemetery.

SECTION 6. Subject to the approval of the Director of Health, a municipal council may take, alter, amend, or repeal when made, such by-laws and regulations as may be necessary for the administration of the business affairs of municipal burial grounds or cemeteries in their respective municipalities, and such by-laws and regulations shall be recorded by the municipal secretary and certified copies filed with the local board of health, if there be any. No by-laws or regulations shall be made so as to restrict or interfere with any person in the full exercise of his religious sentiments in respect to the burial of the dead, nor to interfere with any person or persons, organization, church, religious denomination, or sect in maintaining and regulating burial grounds or cemeteries in accordance with their beliefs of customs: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That no municipality in prescribing rules and regulations for the government of municipal burial grounds or cemeteries, shall discriminate against the burial of bodies on account of race, nationality, or religion.

Sanitary by-laws and regulations for all cemeteries may be made by the local health authorities, but such sanitary by-laws and regulations shall be submitted to the Director of Health for approval.

SECTION 7. Any municipal council may designate the municipal board of health of its municipality or any member thereof to act as its representative in the administration of municipal cemeteries, and such organization or officer shall perform the duties thus imposed without extra compensation.

SECTION 8. Municipal councils may receive and hold grants, gifts, or bequests of property or money, and apply the same to the improvement or embellishment of municipal burial grounds or cemeteries or any part thereof, or for the erection, preservation, or removal of monuments, fences or other structure in or around said burial grounds or cemeteries, according to the terms of the grant, gift, or bequest. In cases where such grants, gifts, or bequests have been made without terms or conditions, they may be applied to such improvement of the municipal burial ground or cemetery as the council may deem advisable.

SECTION 9. Municipalities shall have authority to acquire land for the purpose of establishing or enlarging burial grounds or cemeteries by purchase, by lease, by the acceptance of gifts and bequests or, when necessary, by condemnation by judicial proceedings in accordance with existing law.

SECTION 10. Any burial ground, cemetery, or other place for the burial or interment of the dead, not a municipal cemetery, may be enlarged by obtaining a permit therefor in the manner prescribed in section twelve of this Act. Land used for private burial grounds or cemeteries shall be exempt from taxation, attachment, or levy of execution. Municipal cemeteries may be enlarged or extended by the municipal council in the manner provided for their establishment in this Act.

SECTION 11. The Director of Health shall have authority to close any burial ground or cemetery, whether conducted by a municipality, society, corporation, church, or by any person or persons, whenever he shall determine that such cemetery is a menace to the public health. Any municipal council, with the approval of the Director of Health, may close any cemetery within the limits of the municipality over which it has jurisdiction when absolutely necessary: PROVIDED, That no cemetery shall be removed without the approval of the Director of Health and of the Secretary of the Interior.

SECTION 12. It shall be unlawful to establish, maintain, enlarge, or remove any burial ground or cemetery, until a permit therefor, approved by the Director of Health, shall have been obtained.

The application for such permit shall be transmitted by or through the municipal council of the municipality in which such burial ground or cemetery is to be established or is located and the municipal council shall make such indorsements thereon as it may deem proper before transmitting the same to the Director of Health.

Municipal councils shall forward all applications for the establishment, enlargement, or removal of burial grounds or cemeteries to the Director of Health within ten days after such applications are filed.

SECTION 13. When practicable, graves shall be dug to a depth of at least five feet, so that there shall be at least three feet of earth covering bodies that have been inclosed in coffins, boxes, or other solid receptacles, and at least four feet of earth covering uncoffined bodies.

SECTION 14. No decision or action of any provincial board of health or of any municipal board of health, except in case of emergency, affecting the question of burial grounds, cemeteries, or disposal of the dead, shall be valid until the same is approved by the Director of Health.

SECTION 15. Except in cases of emergency, no dead body shall be buried without a certificate of death. If there has been a physician in attendance upon the deceased, it shall be the duty of the said physician to furnish the required certificate. If there has been no physician in attendance, it shall be the duty of a president of a municipal board of health or of any physician registered under the provisions of Act Numbered Three hundred and ten to furnish such certificate. Should no physician or medical officer be available, it shall be the duty of the president, the secretary, or of a councilor of the municipality to furnish the required certificate.

SECTION 16. Death certificates shall contain the name of the deceased, age, sex, nationality, occupation, whether married or single, widowed or divorced, date of death, place of death, cause of death when known, duration of illness, residence of deceased, whether deceased was a permanent or transient resident of the municipality in which he shall have died, whether the deceased had medical attendance, and if so the length of such attendance, the name and address of the physician attending, and whether there are indications of violence or crime, and such other information as may be required for identification or statistical purposes. The death certificate shall be forwarded by the person issuing it to the municipal secretary within forty-eight hours after death.

SECTION 17. If the person who issues a death certificate has any reason to suspect or if he shall observe any indication of violence or crime, he shall at once notify the municipal fiscal, if he be available, or if he be not available, he shall notify the municipal president, who shall take proper steps to ascertain the circumstances and cause of death; and the corpse of such deceased person shall not be buried or interred until permission is obtained from the provincial fiscal, if he be available, and if he be not available, from the president of the municipality in which the death occurred.

SECTION 18. Municipal secretaries in the capacity of secretaries of municipal boards of health, in places where such boards have been organized, or in places where there are no municipal boards of health, in the capacity of clerks to municipal councils, shall, upon the presentation of death certificates, issue permits for the burial or transfer of the dead and shall record on said certificates the place of interment and when practicable the number of the grave, and in cases of disinterment, in addition thereto, shall be noted the name of the cemetery and the number of the grave from which the body has been transferred. No permit shall be granted by any municipal secretary, or by any other person, to inter or disinter, bury or remove for burial, any human body or remains until a certificate of death, as hereinbefore required, shall have been filed: PROVIDED, That when it is impossible to secure a death certificate in the form and manner hereinbefore provided, municipal secretaries may issue the same upon such data as may be obtainable.

In case of the transfer of bodies or remains from one municipality to another municipality, a copy of the death certificate shall accompany the transfer permit.

SECTION 19. No sexton, superintendent, or other person having charge of a burial ground or cemetery shall assist in, assent to, or allow any interment, disinterment, or cremation to be made until a permit from the municipal secretary, authorizing the same, has been presented.

SECTION 20. Any permit for burial, interment, or cremation shall be null and void after a period of forty-eight hours has elapsed from the time of issue.

Except when required for the purpose of legal investigation or when specially authorized by local health authorities, no dead body shall remain unburied for a greater time than forty-eight hours after death.

Whenever it has been certified or is known that any person died with a contagious, infectious, or communicable disease of a dangerous character, the body of such person shall be buried within twelve hours after death, unless otherwise directed by the local board of health.

SECTION 21. Upon written request a special permit may be issued by a municipal board of health, or if there be no municipal board of health by a municipal secretary, for the conveyance of a dead body to sea for burial: PROVIDED, That the body be transported in the manner prescribed by the municipal board of health and that the marine laws governing burials at sea are complied with: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That death is not due to or with a contagious, infectious, or communicable disease of a dangerous character.

SECTION 22. The body of any person dead of infectious or contagious disease shall not be carried from place to place, except for the purpose of burial or cremation. It shall be the duty of the local health authorities to cause such body to be thoroughly disinfected before being prepared for burial, and the house, furniture, wearing apparel, and everything capable of conveying or spreading infection shall also be disinfected or destroyed by fire. The local board of health, if there be any, subject to the approval of the Director of Health, shall prescribe the condition under which bodies dead with infectious, contagious, or communicable diseases of a dangerous character shall be buried or cremated, except as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 23. Permission to disinter or exhume the bodies or remains of persons who have died of noncontagious, noninfectious, or noncommunicable diseases, may be granted after such bodies have been buried for a period of three years. The body or remains of a deceased person, upon exhumation, shall be immediately disinfected and enclosed in a coffin, case, or box, securely fastened, and this coffin, case or box, shall be placed in an outside box which shall also be securely fastened. Special permits may be issued for the disinterment or exhumation of the remains of deceased persons who have died with noncontagious, noninfectious, or noncommunicable diseases, after a period of one and one-half years has elapsed from the date of burial, if it be found that the disinterment or exhumation of such remains will not be to the detriment of the public health: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That special permits may be issued at any time for the disinterment or exhumation of remains of persons dying of noncontagious, noninfectious, or noncommunicable diseases that have been properly embalmed by an undertaker or embalmer, or for the transfer or removal of bodies that have been placed in a receiving vault awaiting transportation from the Philippine Islands. Boxes containing the bodies or remains shall be plainly marked with pasters showing the name of the deceased, place of death, cause of death, and the point to which they are to be shipped.

SECTION 24. Bodies or remains of persons who have died with contagious, infectious, or communicable diseases of a dangerous character may be exhumed after a period of five years shall have elapsed: PROVIDED, That such remains, after having been properly disinfected, shall be placed in a suitable and hermetically sealed container.

SECTION 25. No body or remains shall be shipped by sea, except under such conditions and regulations as may be prescribed by the United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service. Upon the outside box containing the body or remains of a deceased person intended for shipment by sea shall be securely tacked a card showing the name, age, nationality of the deceased person, the cause of death, and the destination of the remains. A copy of this card shall be supplied to the Chief Quarantine Officer of the Philippine Islands or to his authorized representative, and all regulations governing the shipment of bodies or remains of deceased persons shall be fully complied with.

SECTION 26. The placing of the body of any deceased person in an unsealed overground tomb is prohibited, unless the coffin or casket containing the remains shall be permanently sealed.

This provision shall not apply to tombs and vaults which are strictly receiving vaults for bodies or remains awaiting final disposition.

SECTION 27. It shall be the duty of each local board of health to keep and maintain a full and complete record of deaths and it may require such reports from the person or persons charged with the burial of the remains, as may be necessary for the purpose of keeping such record.

SECTION 28. All morgues, undertaking establishments, receiving vaults, and places of embalming the dead, and all burial grounds or cemeteries, crematories, or other places for the disposition of the dead, shall be subject at all hours to such inspection as the local health authorities or the Director of Health may deem advisable; and such institutions or establishments, whether public or private, shall be governed by sanitary regulations approved by the Director of Health.

SECTION 29. Except in cases of emergency, any person who shall bury or inter, or cause to be buried or interred, a dead body of any human being or any human remains in any place except in a burial ground or cemetery now or hereafter lawfully existing shall, upon conviction, be punished as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 30. Any person who wantonly or maliciously defaces, breaks, or destroys any tomb, ornament, or gravestone erected to any deceased person, or any memento or memorial, or any plant, tree, or shrub, pertaining to places of burial of a dead body, or who shall wantonly or maliciously remove any fence, post, or wall of any burial ground or cemetery, shall, upon conviction, be punished as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 31. The duty of burying the body of a deceased person shall devolve upon the persons hereinafter specified:

(1) If the deceased was a married man or woman, the duty of burial shall devolve upon the surviving spouse if he or she possesses sufficient means to pay the necessary expenses.

(2) If the deceased was an unmarried man or woman, or a child, and left any kin, the duty of burial shall devolve upon the nearest of kin of the deceased, if they be adults and within the Philippine Islands and in possession of sufficient means to defray the necessary expenses.

(3) If the deceased left no spouse or kindred possessed of sufficient means to defray the necessary expenses, as provided in the two foregoing numbers, the duty of burial shall devolve upon the municipal authorities.

 Nothing herein contained shall change the liability of the estate of the deceased for the ultimate payment of expenses, the purpose and intent of this section being to fix the immediate duty of burial and without respect to the ultimate liability for expense thereof.

SECTION 32. Any person upon whom the immediate duty of burial of a dead body is imposed by law who omits to perform that duty within forty-eight hours after death, having ability to do so, shall, upon conviction, be punished as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 33. Any person charged by law with the duty of burying the body of a deceased person is entitled to the custody of such body for the purpose of burying it, except when an inquest is required by law for the purpose of determining the cause of death, and in case of death with infectious, contagious, or communicable disease of a dangerous character, such body shall until buried remain in the custody of the local board of health, if there be one, or if there be no local board of health then in the custody of the municipal council.

SECTION 34. Except in times of epidemics, or in cases of death due to or with contagious, infectious, or communicable diseases of a dangerous character, the right to hold public funerals and to take the remains of the deceased person into churches or other places for this purpose, shall not be abridged or interfered with: PROVIDED, That such remains shall have been properly disinfected and inclosed in a substantial coffin of wood or metal, so as to prevent the escape of offensive gases or odors: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That such funerals shall be conducted in an orderly manner. In cases of epidemics recognized by the Director of Health and in cases of death due to or with contagious, infectious, or communicable diseases of a dangerous character, the bodies of such deceased persons shall not be taken to places of public assembly, nor shall any person be permitted to attend the funeral of such deceased person, except the adult members of the immediate family of the deceased, his nearest friends, not exceeding four, and other persons whose attendance is absolutely necessary. After the deceased shall have been buried for a period of one hour a public funeral may be held at the grave or in a place of public assembly or elsewhere.

SECTION 35. Nothing in this Act shall operate to interfere with the military authorities of the United States in transporting the bodies or remains of officers, soldiers, sailors, or civilian employees in the Army or Navy, or other public service of the United States, or of their families, under Acts of Congress: PROVIDED, That death was not due to or with cholera, bubonic plague, smallpox, yellow fever, or such other dangerous communicable diseases as the Director of Health may designate, in which case two years shall elapse before disinterment unless the bodies were cremated before burial; or to interfere with the transit of bodies of deceased officers, soldiers, sailors, or civilian employees of the Army or Navy or other public service of the United States, or of their families in charge of military authorities, from place of death to the authorized burial places or embalming places or to any morgue or other place for receiving the dead.

SECTION 36. Subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, the Director of Health may make such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act or for the purpose of meeting contingencies or emergencies as they arise, and upon any question affecting the maintenance of public health and the suppression and extermination of epidemics of contagious, infectious, or communicable diseases of a dangerous character, and the rules and regulations thus made and approved, shall have the force and effect of law: PROVIDED, That in the jurisdiction of the Moro Province, such rules and regulations shall be made and submitted to the Secretary of the Interior by the governor of the Moro Province, and if approved by the Secretary of the Interior they shall have the force and effect of law within the Moro Province.

SECTION 37. Any person violating the provisions of this Act or any part thereof, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not to exceed two hundred pesos, or by imprisonment for six months, or both, for each offense, in the discretion of the court.

SECTION 38. All laws and ordinances or parts thereof which are in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

SECTION 39. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SECTION 40. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

ENACTED, February 21, 1906.