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Insurance Case Digest: Southern Luzon Employees' Ass. v. Golpeo, et al. (1954)

G.R. No. L-6114      October 30, 1954
Lessons Applicable: Invalid Designation (Insurance)

FACTS:
  • Roman A. Concepcion listed as his beneficiaries Aquilina Maloles, Roman M. Concepcion, Jr., Estela M. Concepcion, Rolando M. Concepcion and Robin M. Concepcion for the death benefit of an association amounting to P2,505
  • Two sets of claimants presented themselves:
    • Juanita Golpeo, legal wife and her children, named beneficiaries by the deceased
      • Marcelino and Josefina Concepcion intervened in their own right aligning themselves Juanita Golpeo and her minor children
    • Elsie Hicban, another common law wife and her child
  • RTC:Aquilina Maloles and her children the sole beneficiaries
  • Only the Juanita Golpeo and her minor children and the intervenors Marcelino and Josefina Concepcion have appealed to this court
ISSUE: W/N Aquilina Molales common-law wife and her illegitimate children can claim the benefits

HELD:  YES.
  • Juanita Golpeo, by her silence and actions, had acquiesced in the illicit relations between her husband and appellee Aquilina Maloles
  • new Civil Code recognized certain successional rights of illegitimate children
Separate Opinions:
  • REYES, J.B.L., J., concurring
    • I concur in the result for the reason that the contract here involved was perfected before the new Civil Code took effect, and hence its provisions cannot be made to apply retroactively