Philamlife vs Honorable Gregorio Pineda and Inevitably, based on the law and their contract, it is

Rodolfo Dimayuga only with consent of the beneficiaries that any

July 19, 1989
Paras, J.:
Insurance: Ordinary life insurance policy
I. FACTS:
On January 15, 1968, Private respondent, Rodolfo
Dimayuga, procured an ordinary life insurance policy
from Philamlife and designated his wife and children
as beneficiaries of said policy.
change or amendment in the policy concerning the
irrevocable beneficiaries may be legally and validly
executed.
On his contention that the Court may grant the
amendment for reasonable grounds, it is evident
that both the law and the policy do not provide for
any other exception.
On the other contention that his children
acquiesced, it is obvious that minors cannot validly
give their consent.

Under date Feb. 22, 1980, private respondent filed a
petition with CFI of Rizal to amend the designation of
the beneficiaries from ‘irrevocable’ to ‘revocable’.
NOTE: His wife died and children are still all minors.
Rodolfo’s contentions were that:
a. Said designation can be amended if the
Court finds a just, reasonable ground to do
so.
b. His 6 minor children (at that time)
acquiesced to the amendment
Of equal importance is the well-settled rule that the
contract between the parties is the law binding on
both of them. Where there is nothing in the contract
which is contrary to law, good morals, etc., the
validity of contract must be sustained.
IV. DISPOSITIVE
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the questioned
Orders of the respondent Judge are hereby nullified
and set aside.

Petitioner filed an Urgent Motion to Reset Hearing

and its Opposition to the Petition, but both were
denied by Respondent judge. The latter granted the
petition of private respondent amending the
designation of beneficiaries.

MR was denied. Hence, this petition.

II. ISSUE:

W/N designation of irrevocable beneficiaries could

be amended without consent of all irrevocable
beneficiaries – NO.

III. RULING:

Under the Insurance Act, beneficiary designated in a

life insurance contract cannot be changed without
the consent of the beneficiary because he has a
vested interest in the policy.

In the policy, the Beneficiary Designation

Indorsement states that the designation is
‘irrevocable’. This fact was never disproved by the
private respondent.