Manila, Philippines – The country’s largest total death care provider Forest Lake marks its 25th anniversary by recognizing its top-performing sales force through a National Sales Convention (NSC) held on June 8, 2022 at Okada Manila.

Since 1997, Forest Lake has empowered not just its bereaved customers but also its employees and sales teams by revolutionizing total death care—one that goes beyond offering memorial lots for sale. With a nationwide footprint that spans Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, Forest Lake now has over 25,000 registered sales agents in more than 35 locations in the Philippines.

Forest Lake President Alfred Xerez-Burgos, Jr. shares, “Over the last 25 years, Forest Lake has fulfilled its brand promise of being A Better Place in a multitude of ways. Our vision is to build a better place where generations of family memories are treasured, immortalized, and celebrated by the living and our mission is to offer accessible and affordable memorial parks and services managed by a professional team dedicated to providing value, innovation, and personalized service.”

Revolutionizing total death care

As a total memorial care company, Forest Lake provides not just memorial parks, but also cremation and interment services as well as chapel services which includes retrieval of a beloved one’s body, embalming, casketing, and viewing rooms. The intent is to provide clients with the highest quality of service and convenience and through the efficient integration of these memorial care services. Through this, Forest Lake becomes the one-stop memorial care provider.

As an added bonus, Forest Lake lot owners are entitled to receive P45,000 worth of Libre Burol services which includes body retrieval, embalming, casketing and chapel viewing, all completely free of charge through the the Libre Burol Program. There is a qualifier however: Libre Burol is offered only where there is a Forest Lake Chapel in the Forest Lake Memorial Park and comes free for every interment service. Therefore, every lot owner who avails of the interment service is entitled to Libre Burol. This means that lot owners, for as long as an interment service can be performed, can avail of memorial services which include pickup, preparation, coffin and viewing for one night – amounting to at least P45,000 – for free.

For Forest Lake Managing Director of Operations, Sales, Marketing, and Chapel Services Alfred Xerez-Burgos III, death care is an investment, not just financially but emotionally, as well.

“Filipinos want more than just a memorial lot, chapel, a coffin, and a memorial service. When you invest in total death care, you’re investing in emotional support during your time of grieving. Every Filipino deserves to celebrate and immortalize the memory of their loved ones in a dignified manner,” said Xerez-Burgos III.

Power of the Past, Force of the Future: Forest Lake’s 8th National Sales Convention

With a theme, “Power of the past and Force of the Future” the NSC focused on remembering and honoring Forest Lake’s notable origins and encouraging its people to look forward to the incredible growth in the coming years.

Forest Lake also unveiled its Digital Transformation updates through its upgraded customer digital portal, MyForestLake, as well as its business expansion plans for 2022. MyForestLake will allow Forest Lake lot owners to manage their memorial lot investments, purchase lots, pay their monthly amortizations, and access customer information and services, all from the safety, comfort, and convenience of their homes or anywhere they may be.

The program, hosted by celebrity hosts Sam YG and Wacky Kiray, was nothing short of a star-studded affair. Forest Lake’s rich history was brought to life through El Gamma Penumbra’s interpretative dance number and famous OPM artists such as Ogie Alcasid and Jonalyn Viray took the stage. The evening included other performances from Buganda and Beast House.

Between performances, Forest Lake also paid homage to its sales representatives who have shown incredible dedication and love for the company. Among these are those who have been with Forest Lake for over 20 years such as Pablo Layog who began his career in Forest Lake 25 years ago.

“As much as we give importance to our past and our future, we also hold in high regard those who have dedicated their lives to helping the families of those who have passed on. It’s part of our vision and mission to create better places for Filipinos – not just for the bereaved, but for those who have the heart to help them through total death care, as well,” says Forest Lake Chairman Antonio V. Syyap.

Forest Lake Senior Sales and Marketing Manager Carla Crisostomo shared as she introduced the tribute video, “Memories are more than just a link to the past. Sometimes they are all that we have that will last. As we celebrate our victories tonight from the challenges of the pandemic towards full recovery, towards the light of a new day, let us take this time to honor and remember the lives of our Forest Lake family members who have transitioned to their new eternal lives. We thank them for the lives they have touched, for their hard work, and contributions. Their memories will forever be in our hearts.”

25 Years of Being a Better Place

Forest Lake’s signature personalized service, and family-friendly nature-themed parks have established it as one of the Philippines’ leading, trusted, and preferred memorial parks. In 2015, Forest Lake opened its first memorial chapels in Forest Lake Binan, Laguna for viewing chapels. With high occupancy levels in 2018 and 2019, a second building housing 10 additional viewing rooms were opened in March 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.

In 2018, Forest Lake launched its grief counseling services which began as a partnership with grief coach, Cathy Babao for bereaved clients in Forest Lake Binan, Laguna. In 2020, Forest Lake planned to take the workshops nationwide, however, due to the pandemic, these face-to-face sessions were cancelled. Thus, the birth of Creating Better Days Webinar Series. Knowing how the pandemic brought about more grief and suffering on a whole new level both individually and collectively, Forest Lake expanded the grief counseling services as an advocacy and platform for mental health and well-being awareness. Since then the company has organized and hosted five Creating Better Days Webinars, kicking off the series in 2020. All Creating Better Days webinars are offered free to the public. Some lucky webinar attendees availed of free grief counseling sessions as well as part of Forest Lake’s endeavor to create a more grief aware society. Through this endeavor the company aims to pave the path for the bereaved to experience support and healing so they may return to wholeness after their loss.

“We want to be able to provide everything Filipinos might need while they are grieving. That’s why we intend to further expand our services – from online portals to crematory services, and even grief counseling for those who have lost their loved ones. That is the Forest Lake brand,” said Xerez-Burgos III.