PHILIPPINES -- Engage in gambling during funeral wakes and expect no burial.
This was the ultimatum delivered by a Catholic priest in the town of Lagawe in the northern Philippine province of Ifugao to those who are caught gambling during funerals.
In the Philippines, week-long funeral wakes are marked by card games locally called sakla usually organized by the bereaved family to help with burial costs. Part of the bets placed on the card games are set aside to help defray the cost of burying a loved one.
However, this tradition is being exploited by illegal gambling syndicates who stage fake funeral wakes complete with a rented corpse just to rake in money from the card games.
The priest, Father Valentine Dimoc of the Saint Mary Magdalene Parish in the town of Lagawe said that families of the bereaved will be denied burial rites should they be found organizing sakla games during the wake.
According to Father Dimoc, local authorities in Lagawe have already passed a local ordinance banning gambling at funeral wakes. The priest however noted that local officials have been lax in enforcing the ordinance.
Through his own pastoral edict, Father Dimoc said that he will withhold funeral masses for dead parishioners if their relatives have allowed gambling during the wake.
Source: AFP through Yahoo News
Posted: February 23, 2011
