Philippine E-Journals

Funeral Tradition Alterations Due to COVID-19 Pandemic Health Protocols Among the Filipino Catholics in Tagbilaran City

Bernabe M. Mijares Jr.

 

Abstract:

This is an interpretive phenomenological study that investigated the lived experiences of the residents of Tagbilaran City, Central Philippines that are related to funeral and burial of deceased loved ones and how these have been affected by the implementation of COVID-19 protocols during the pandemic. Data were primarily gathered through in-depth interview of 30 key informants who are Roman Catholic residents of the city and were treated through content and thematic analyses. It was revealed that based on their tradition, the informants experienced death as a social phenomenon; the preparation of the spirit and the honoring of the body; and a reassuring and meaningful experience. With the on-going pandemic, the government implemented the COVID-19 protocols which the residents considered as measures to contain the virus that could still be improved but also that which challenged their social practices and spiritual beliefs. The protocols consequently made the residents missed those funeral and burial practices, rites and rituals that essentially deprived them of the “warmth” of the physical presence of the deceased and the members of the social groups and of an overall meaningful experience of death. Finally, the informants found the protocols that relate to death and the protocols in general as acceptable but consistency of carrying out, openness to justified appeals and being particularly respectful to the deceased body, among others, should be effected to improve its implementation. Given the findings, this study generalized that the COVID-19 Pandemic Health Protocols affected the Funeral Traditions of the Catholics in Tagbilaran City which were particularly manifested in the changes or alterations in the external expressions of the funeral and burial traditions such as the activities, events, rites and rituals. The meaning, sense and relevance of this tradition, being social constructs, were however retained in the collective consciousness of the residents. It is recommended that both the government and the residents, through the Catholic Church and community leaders, should collaborate to strike a balance between health policy implementation and practice of funeral tradition.