> Christmas
mourning
While the rest of the world were busy enjoying the revelry of the
Christmas season, a friend sought advice on a legal problem. This
friend recently suffered a most tragic loss – his wife and child
died days before Christmas. What made his loss worse was that his
father-in-law adamantly refused to turnover to him his wife and
child’s remains and have them buried where he would have wanted
them. He thus wanted to know if his father-in-law had any legal
right to deprive him of his wife and child’s remains and
conversely, if he too has any right to them.
Senator Arturo Tolentino, an eminent civil law authority, opines
in his book on the Law on Property that “there is a right of
possession over a corpse, recognized in the nearest relatives and
the surviving spouse, for the purpose of giving it an adequate
burial.” Unfortunately, this statement is inconclusive to
adequately address the issue at hand considering that the right of
possession is recognized in both the nearest relative and the
surviving spouse; and the father-in-law, arguably, is a nearest
relative of his deceased daughter.
Auspiciously, other provisions of the Civil Code of the
Philippines and the Family Code, construed together, clarify the
matter.
In Article 305 of the Civil Code, the duty and right to make
arrangements for the funeral of a relative shall be in accordance
with the order established for support, under Article 294. Article
294, in turn, provides that: the claim for support, when proper
and two or more persons are obliged to give it, shall be made in
the following order: (1) from the spouse; (2) from the descendants
of the nearest degree; (3) from the ascendants, also of the
nearest degree; (4) from the brothers and sisters. Applying these
provisions in the problem at hand, it is indubitable that between
the husband and his father-in-law, it is the former who has the
right and priority to determine where the remains of his deceased
wife and child should be interred.
Moreover, said father-in-law’s parental authority over her
daughter terminated when the latter attained the age of majority
and got married. Thus, Article 228 of the Family Code provides
that “parental authority terminates permanently upon emancipation
of the child.” In turn, Article 234, as amended, states that
emancipation takes place by the attainment of majority (18 years
old) and by marriage.
Legally and morally, my friend had the advantage. He could have
won the battle and recovered his family had he brought his
father-in-law to court. But in the end, he decided not to, not
because he did not love his family, but because he wanted to avoid
a scandal that would add pain to his grief-stricken heart.
