Bernardina P. Bartolome vs. SSS, GR. No. 192531, November 12, 2014

Doctrine: It is apparent that the biological parents retain their rights of succession to the estate of their child who was the subject of adoption

Case Title: Bernardina P. Bartolome vs. Social Security System, GR. No. 192531, November 12, 2014, J. Velasco Jr.

Facts:

Petitioner Bernardina Bartolome had submitted a death benefits under Presidential Degree 626 (PD 626) with the respondent agency Social Security Services (SSS). She alleged that she is the biological mother of John Colcol, who was employed as electrician by Scanmar Maritime Services, Inc., on board the vessel Maersk Danville before its demise in 2008 due to accident. John was, at the time of his death, childless and unmarried. However, the SSS denied the claim stating that the petitioner is no longer considered as the parent of John as he was legally adopted by Cornelio Colcol based on the documents that were provided with the SSS.

The denial was appealed tothe Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC), which affirmed the ruling of the SSS. Aggrieved, petitioner filed a Motion for Reconsideration, which was likewise denied by the ECC.10 Hence, the instant petition.

Issue

Whether or not petitioner is entitled to the pension of the death benefits of her biological child despite adoption.

Held

Yes. When Cornelio, in 1985, adopted John, then about two (2) years old, petitioner’s parental authority over John was severed. However, lest it be overlooked, one key detail the ECC missed, aside from Cornelio’s death, was that when the adoptive parent died less than three (3) years after the adoption decree, John was still a minor, at about four (4) years of age.

John’s minority at the time of his adopter’s death is a significant factor in the case at bar. Under such circumstance, parental authority should be deemed to have reverted in favor of the biological parents. Otherwise, taking into account Our consistent ruling that adoption is a personal relationship and that there are no collateral relatives by virtue of adoption,21 who was then left to care for the minor adopted child if the adopter passed away?

To be sure, reversion of parental authority and legal custody in favor of the biological parents is not a novel concept. Section 20 of Republic Act No. 8552 (RA 8552), otherwise known as the Domestic Adoption Act, provides:

Section 20. Effects of Rescission.– If the petition for rescission of adoption is granted, the parental authority of the adoptee’s biological parents, if known, or the legal custody of the Department shall be restored if the adoptee is still a minor or incapacitated. The reciprocal rights and obligations of the adopter(s) and the adoptee to each other shall be extinguished.

Moreover, John, in his SSS application, named petitioner as one of his beneficiaries for his benefits under RA 8282, otherwise known as the “Social Security Law.” While RA 8282 does not cover compensation for work-related deaths or injury and expressly allows the designation of beneficiaries who are not related by blood to the member unlike in PD 626, John’s deliberate act of indicating petitioner as his beneficiary at least evinces that he, in a way, considered petitioner as his dependent. Consequently, the confluence of circumstances – from Cornelio’s death during John’s minority, the restoration of petitioner’s parental authority, the documents showing singularity of address, and John’s clear intention to designate petitioner as a beneficiary – effectively made petitioner, to Our mind, entitled to death benefit claims as a secondary beneficiary under PD 626 as a dependent parent.

It is apparent that the biological parents retain their rights of succession to the estate of their child who was the subject of adoption. While the benefits arising from the death of an SSS covered employee do not form part of the estate of the adopted child, the pertinent provision on legal or intestate succession at least reveals the policy on the rights of the biological parents and those by adoption vis-à-vis the right to receive benefits from the adopted. In the same way that certain rights still attach by virtue of the blood relation, so too should certain obligations, which, We rule, include the exercise of parental authority, in the event of the untimely passing of their minor offspring’s adoptive parent