Jay Ilagan, owner of RBN Funeral Parlor, shows a variety of unique casketsthey offer. Photo by Armand Galang
CABANATUAN CITY – Funeral parlors are not free from pressures other businesses come across with.
For instance, Jay Ilagan, a graduating member of the city council who followed his grandfather in funeral parlor business, had to come up with varied presentation of caskets – different colors, printing saints on their surfaces as well as offering internet services – among others.
“We need to be competitive,” he said, saying though that he sets trends most of the time. Recently, his parlor, RBN, launched the so-called “on-line burol” and offered water-proof caskets.
He said they offer it for as low as P5,000 worth of services, including casket, for poor patrons to P500,000 for the high-end market.
They also have to come up with various colors to suit the market such as pink for girls and white with prints of saints for the religious.
“Our people here are religious, they even ask for a particular saint to which we cannot say none,” Ilagan said.
By “electronic burol”, the parlor provides a website where relatives of the dead, furnished with password, can view the live situation at the wake.
“People are becoming practical they would want to see the situation, know the people at the wake but would not have time to travel home,” he said.
Records showed this city, the most progressive part of Nueva Ecija, has an average of 7.2 deaths as against 22.53 births daily.
He also noted that high-end caskets are found to be the favorites of “early-planners” or those people who would have the caskets of their choice reserved.
Reservation, he said, gives the takers an opportunity to get the specific design and materials like the P500,000 worth Oakwood casket at present price even if they will have to use it several years from now.
“It’s a win-win situation, we can use their money right now and they avail the services at no-increasing price,” he stressed.
He noted that reservation is becoming a trend in the locality. Some of them were children who would migrate overseas and retired soldiers from Fort Magsaysay, Palayan City.
Some of these clients, he said, believe that the earlier a person prepares for his death the longer he or she can live.
Ilagan’s parlor also provides a singer for the wakes. It was learned, however, that a parlor from another town even serves dancers, defending on the wish of the customer.
They even had to import from the United States where trends are made, he said.
Like any other business, Ilagan said, funeral parlors are prone to economic vulnerability. Thus, operators have to be creative enough to withstand challenges.
