SC voids Social Security Act provision
The Supreme Court has voided the provision in the Social Security Act that disqualifies as primary beneficiaries those who become the legitimate spouse of the pensioner only after the latter suffered permanent total disability.
Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul B. Inting, who wrote the decision, the SC en banc declared void the proviso “as of the date of disability” in Section 13-A(c) of Republic Act 8282, or the Social Security Act of 1997 (Social Security Law), for being contrary to the due process and equal protection clauses of the Constitution, as it granted the petition for review on certiorari filed by Belinda D.R. Dolera.
The petition challenged the rulings of the Court of Appeals which had upheld the Order of the Social Security Commission denying Belinda’s application for survivorship pension following the death of her husband, Leonardo L. Dolera.
Leonardo in 1980, became disabled and started receiving his permanent total disability pension from the Social Security System.
He married Belinda the following year, then his common-law spouse, with whom he shared a child.
They lived together as husband and wife for 28 years before his death on 14 November 2009.
The wife then filed a claim for survivorship pension before the SSS Diliman, Quezon City Branch, but the same was denied pursuant to Section 13-A(c) of the Social Security Law, which provides that “[u]pon the death of the permanent total disability pensioner, his [or her] primary beneficiaries as of the date of disability shall be entitled to receive the monthly pension xxx.”
The SSS said, Belinda did not qualify as a primary beneficiary under the law as she only became Leonardo’s legitimate spouse after the date of his permanent disability.
She then filed a petition but was likewise denied and affirmed by the CA, prompting the petition.
Ordering the SSS to process Belinda’s claim for survivorship pension, the Court stressed that the Social Security Law was enacted under the policy of the State to promote social justice and provide protection to the workers and their beneficiaries against the hazards of contingencies, such as disability and death, resulting in loss of income or financial burden.
As a social welfare legislation, the Social Security Law should be liberally construed in favor of the intended beneficiary, for it is only by giving the law a liberal construction that the constitutional policy concerning promotion of social justice is realized, held by the Court.
The assailed provision of Section 13-A(c) of the Social Security 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.
The Court ruled, however, that the said provision is void for being violative of the equal protection clause of the Constitution as it discriminates against dependent spouses who married the pensioners after the latter qualified for their pension.