A graduate posed in a coffin for a tribute to his parents, who owned a funeral parlour.

Mike Raz Navarette said he finished his bachelor's degree in nursing with the support of parents Isabel and Jimmy, who ran a funeral home in Aklan province, the Philippines.

Footage shows Mike fixing his suit before climbing inside a casket to take pictures for his unusually-themed photoshoot on May 21.

He was assisted by photographers as he sat down and even laid down on the soft cushion inside the coffin.

By the end, he held a poster saying: ‘Thank you, Mama, Papa. We made it. You now have a future nurse.'

Mike said he was inspired to do the photoshoot for people who had bullied him when he was young due to his family's business.

He said: ‘It all started in my elementary school days when my friends and classmates mocked me about my parents' employment, even claiming that our food came from a morgue.

'Even our neighbours were afraid. It was understandable to be wary of this type of business, and I couldn't blame them.'