Dear Atty. Angela,
I have been living-in with my partner for 10 years and we have two children. I am a housewife and he has been working as a factory worker. Three years ago, he became disabled and started receiving his permanent total disability pension from the Social Security System (SSS). Last year, we decided to get married. Unfortunately, he died a few months ago and I would like to file a claim for survivorship pension with the SSS. I heard from a friend who used to work in SSS that I cannot claim because I only became his spouse after his permanent disability and this is under the SSS Law. I really need the pension for my children, am I really not entitled?
Minda
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Dear Minda,
The good news is that the Supreme Court has voided the provision in the SSS Act that disqualifies as primary beneficiaries those who become the legitimate spouse of the pensioner only after the latter suffered permanent total disability. As such, you are now already entitled to claim the survivorship pension.
Previously, the assailed provision of Section 13-A(c) of the SS Law provides that to be considered a primary beneficiary entitled to receive survivorship pension, the applicant must be the legitimate spouse of the pensioner as of the date of the latter’s disability:
“(c) Upon the death of the permanent total disability pensioner, his primary beneficiaries as of the date of disability shall be entitled to receive the monthly pension.”
In the case of Dolera v. Social Security System, G.R. 253940 (2023), the Court found the proviso “as of the date of disability” under Section 13-A (c) void for being violative of the equal protection and due process clauses of the Constitution. The Court expressed that the unqualified denial of claims for benefits filed by surviving legitimate spouses who contracted their marriages to the pensioner-spouses after the latter’s disability evidently discriminates against common-law relationships which are common and even recognized by the Family Code as family units and unions.
Atty. Angela Antonio