RULE 86

Claims Against Estate

Section 1. Notice to creditors to be issued by court. Immediately after granting letters
testamentary or of administration, the court shall issue a notice requiring all persons having money
claims against the decedent to file them in the office of the clerk of said court.
Section 2. Time within which claims shall be filed. In the notice provided in the preceding section,
the court shall estate the time for the filing of claims against the estate, which shall not be more than
twelve (12) not less than six (6) months after the date of the first publication of the notice. However, at
any time before an order of distribution is entered, on application of a creditor who has failed to file his
claim within the previously limited, the court may, for cause shown and on such terms as are
equitable, allow such claim to be filed within a time not exceeding one (1) month.
Section 3. Publication of notice to creditors. Every executor or administrator shall, immediately
after the notice to creditors is issued, cause the same to be published three (3) weeks successively in a
newspaper of general circulation in the province, and to be posted for the same period in four public
places in the province and in two public places in the municipality where the decedent last resided.
Section 4. Filing of copy of printed notice. Within ten (10) days after the notice has been published
and posted in accordance with the preceding section, the executor or administrator shall file or cause
to be filed in the court a printed copy of the notice accompanied with an affidavit setting forth the
dates of the first and last publication thereof and the name of the newspaper in which the same is
printed.
Section 5. Claims which must be filed under the notice. If not filed, barred; exceptions. All claims
for money against the decent, arising from contract, express or implied, whether the same be due, not
due, or contingent, all claims for funeral expenses and expense for the last sickness of the decedent,
and judgment for money against the decent, must be filed within the time limited in the notice;
otherwise they are barred forever, except that they may be set forth as counterclaims in any action
that the executor or administrator may bring against the claimants. Where an executor or
administrator commences an action, or prosecutes an action already commenced by the deceased in
his lifetime, the debtor may set forth by answer the claims he has against the decedent, instead of
presenting them independently to the court as herein provided, and mutual claims may be set of
against each other in such action; and if final judgment is rendered in favor of the defendant, the
amount so determined shall be considered the true balance against the estate, as though the claim
had been presented directly before the court in the administration proceedings. Claims not yet due, or
contingent, may be approved at their present value.
Section 6. Solidary obligation of decedent. Where the obligation of the decedent is solidary with
another debtor, the claim shall be filed against the decedent as if he were the only debtor, without
prejudice to the right of the estate to recover contribution from the debtor. In a joint obligation of the
decedent, the claim shall be confined to the portion belonging to him.
Section 7. Mortgage debt due from estate. A creditor holding a claim against the deceased secured
by mortgage or other colateral security, may abandon the security and prosecute his claim in the
manner provided in this rule, and share in the general distribution of the assets of the estate; or he
may foreclose his mortgage or realize upon his security, by action in court, making the executor or
administrator a party defendant, and if there is a judgment for a deficiency, after the sale of the
mortgaged premises, or the property pledged, in the foreclosure or other proceeding to realize upon
the security, he may claim his deficiency judgment in the manner provided in the preceding section or
he may rely upon his mortgage or other security alone, and foreclosure the same at any time within
the period of the statute of limitations, and in that event he shall not be admitted as a creditor, and
shall receive no share in the distribution of the other assets of estate; but nothing herein contained
shall prohibit the executor or administrator from redeeming the property mortgaged or pledged, by
paying the debt for which it is held as security, under the direction of the court, if the court shall
adjudge it to be for the best interest of the estate that such redemption shall be made.
Section 8. Claim of executor or administrator against an estate. If the executor or administrator
has a claim against the estate he represents, he shall give notice thereof, in writing, to the court, and
the court shall appoint a special administrator, who shall, in the adjustment of such claim, have the
same power and be subject to the same liability as the general administrator or executor in the
settlement of other claims. The court may order the executor or administrator to pay to the special
administrator necessary funds to defend such claim.
Section 9. How to file a claim. Contents thereof. Notice to executor or administrator. A claim may
be filed by delivering the same with the necessary vouchers to the clerk of court and by serving a copy
thereof on the executor or administrator. If the claim be founded on a bond, bill, note, or any other
instrument, the original need not be filed, but a copy thereof with all indorsements shall be attached to

the claim and filed therewith. On demand, however, of the executor or administrator, or by order of the
court or judge, the original shall be exhibited, unless it be list or destroyed, in which case the claimant
must accompany his claim with affidavit or affidavits containing a copy or particular description of the
instrument and stating its loss or destruction. When the claim is due, it must be supported by affidavit
stating the amount justly due, that no payments have been made thereon which are not credited, and
that there are no ofsets to the same, to the knowledge of the affiant. If the claim is not due, or is
contingent, when filed, it must also be supported by affidavits stating the particulars thereof. When the
affidavit is made by a person other than the claimant, he must set forth therein the reason why it is
not made by the claimant. The claim once filed shall be attached to the record of the case in which the
letters testamentary or of administration were issued, although the court, in its discretion, and as a
matter of convenience, may order all the claims to be collected in a separate folder.
Section 10. Answer of executor or administrator. Offsets Within fifteen (15) days after service of a
copy of the claim on the executor or administrator, he shall file his answer admitting or denying the
claim specifically, and setting forth the admission or denial. If he has no knowledge sufficient to enable
him to admit or deny specifically, he shall state such want of knowledge. The executor or administrator
in his answer shall allege in ofset any claim which the decedent before death had against the
claimant, and his failure to do so shall bar the claim forever. A copy of the answer shall be served by
the executor or administrator on the claimant. The court in its discretion may extend the time for filing
such answer.
Section 11. Disposition of admitted claim. Any claim admitted entirely by the executor or
administrator shall immediately be submitted by the clerk to the court who may approve the same
without hearing; but the court, in its discretion, before approving the claim, may order that known
heirs, legatees, or devisees be notified and heard. If upon hearing, an heir, legatees, or devisee
opposes the claim, the court may, in its discretion, allow him fifteen (15) days to file an answer to the
claim in the manner prescribed in the preceding section.
Section 12. Trial of contested claim. Upon the filing of an answer to a claim, or upon the expiration
of the time for such filing, the clerk of court shall set the claim for trial with notice to both parties. The
court may refer the claim to a commissioner.
Section 13. Judgment appealable. The judgment of the court approving or disapproving a claim,
shall be filed with the record of the administration proceedings with notice to both parties, and is
appealable as in ordinary cases. A judgment against the executor or administrator shall be that he pay,
in due course of administration, the amount ascertained to be due, and it shall not create any lien
upon the property of the estate, or give to the judgment creditor any priority of payment.
Section 14. Costs. When the executor or administrator, in his answer, admits and ofers to pay part
of a claim, and the claimant refuses to accept the amount ofered in satisfaction of his claim, if he fails
to obtain a more favorable judgment, he cannot recover costs, but must pay to the executor or
administrator costs from the time of the ofer. Where an action commenced against the deceased for
money has been discontinued and the claim embraced therein presented as in this rule provided, the
prevailing party shall be allowed the costs of his action up to the time of its discontinuance.
Republic Act No. 7170
January 7, 1992
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE LEGACY OR DONATION OF ALL OR PART OF A HUMAN BODY
AFTER DEATH FOR SPECIFIED PURPOSES
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled::
Section 1. Title. This Act shall be known as the "Organ Donation Act of 1991".
Section 2. Definition of Terms. As used in this Act the following terms shall mean:
(a) "Organ Bank Storage Facility" - a facility licensed, accredited or approved under the law for storage
of human bodies or parts thereof.
(b) "Decedent" - a deceased individual, and includes a still-born infant or fetus.
(c) "Testator" - an individual who makes a legacy of all or part of his body.
(d) "Donor" - an individual authorized under this Act to donate all or part of the body of a
decedent.1awphilalf
(e) "Hospital" - a hospital licensed, accredited or approval under the law, and includes, a hospital
operated by the Government.
(f) "Part" - includes transplantable organs, tissues, eyes, bones, arteries, blood, other fluids and other
portions of the human body.
(g) "Person" - an individual, corporation, estate, trust, partnership, association, the Government or any
of its subdivisions, agencies or instrumentalities, including government-owned or -controlled
corporations; or any other legal entity.
(h) "Physician" or "Surgeon" - a physician or surgeon licensed or authorized to practice medicine under

the laws of the Republic of the Philippines.

(i) "Immediate Family" of the decedent - the persons enumerated in Section 4(a) of this Act.
(j) "Death" - the irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or the irreversible
cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem. A person shall be medically and
legally dead if either:1awphilalf
(1) In the opinion of the attending physician, based on the acceptable standards of medical practice,
there is an absence of natural respiratory and cardiac functions and, attempts at resuscitation would
not be successful in restoring those functions. In this case, death shall be deemed to have occurred at
the time these functions ceased; or
(2) In the opinion of the consulting physician, concurred in by the attending physician, that on the
basis of acceptable standards of medical practice, there is an irreversible cessation of all brain
functions; and considering the absence of such functions, further attempts at resuscitation or
continued supportive maintenance would not be successful in resorting such natural functions. In this
case, death shall be deemed to have occurred at the time when these conditions first appeared.
The death of the person shall be determined in accordance with the acceptable standards of medical
practice and shall be diagnosed separately by the attending physician and another consulting
physician, both of whom must be appropriately qualified and suitably experienced in the care of such
parties. The death shall be recorded in the patient's medical record.
Section 3. Person Who May Execute A Legacy. Any individual, at least eighteen (18) years of
age and of sound mind, may give by way of legacy, to take efect after his death, all or part of his body
for any purpose specified in Section 6 hereof.
Section 4. Person Who May Execute a Donation.
(a) Any of the following, person, in the order of property stated hereunder, in the absence of actual
notice of contrary intentions by the decedent or actual notice of opposition by a member of the
immediate family of the decedent, may donate all or any part of the decedent's body for any purpose
specified in Section 6 hereof:
(1) Spouse;
(2) Son or daughter of legal age;
(3) Either parent;
(4) Brother or sister of legal age; or
(5) Guardian over the person of the decedent at the time of his death.
(b) The persons authorized by sub-section (a) of this Section may make the donation after or
immediately before death.
Section 5. Examination of Human Body or Part Thereof . A legacy of donation of all or part of a
human body authorizes any examination necessary to assure medical acceptability of the legacy or
donation for the purpose(s) intended.
For purposes of this Act, an autopsy shall be conducted on the cadaver of accident, trauma, or other
medico-legal cases immediately after the pronouncement of death, to determine qualified and healthy
human organs for transplantation and/or in furtherance of medical science.
Section 6. Persons Who May Become Legatees or Donees. The following persons may become
legatees or donees of human bodies or parts thereof for any of the purposes stated hereunder:
(a) Any hospital, physician or surgeon - For medical or dental education, research, advancement of
medical or dental science, therapy or transplantation;
(b) Any accredited medical or dental school, college or university - For education, research,
advancement of medical or dental science, or therapy;
(c) Any organ bank storage facility - For medical or dental education, research, therapy, or
transplantation; and
(d) Any specified individual - For therapy or transplantation needed by him.
Section 7. Duty of Hospitals. A hospital authorized to receive organ donations or to conduct
transplantation shall train qualified personnel and their staf to handle the task of introducing the
organ donation program in a humane and delicate manner to the relatives of the donor-decedent
enumerated in Section 4 hereof. The hospital shall accomplish the necessary form or document as
proof of compliance with the above requirement.
Section 8. Manner of Executing a Legacy.
(a) Legacy of all or part of the human body under Section 3 hereof may be made by will. The legacy
becomes efective upon the death of the testator without waiting for probate of the will. If the will is
not probated, or if it is declared invalid for testamentary purposes, the legacy, to the extent that it was
executed in good faith, is nevertheless valid and efective.
(b) A legacy of all or part of the human body under Section 3 hereof may also be made in any
document other than a will. The legacy becomes efective upon death of the testator and shall be
respected by and binding upon his executor or administrator, heirs, assigns, successors-in-interest and

all members of the family. The document, which may be a card or any paper designed to be carried on
a person, must be signed by the testator in the presence of two witnesses who must sign the
document in his presence. If the testator cannot sign, the document may be signed for him at his
discretion and in his presence, in the presence of two witnesses who must, likewise, sign the document
in the presence of the testator. Delivery of the document of legacy during the testator's lifetime is not
necessary to make the legacy valid.
(c) The legacy may be made to a specified legatee or without specifying a legatee. If the legacy is
made to a specified legatee who is not available at the time and place of the testator's death, the
attending physician or surgeon, in the absence of any expressed indication that the testator desired
otherwise, may accept the legacy as legatee. If the legacy does not specify a legatee, the legacy may
be accepted by the attending physician or surgeon as legatee upon or following the testator's death.
The physician who becomes a legatee under this subsection shall not participate in the procedures for
removing or transplanting a part or parts of the body of the decedent.
(d) The testator may designate in his will, card or other document, the surgeon or physician who will
carry out the appropriate procedures. In the absence of a designation, or if the designee is not
available, the legatee or other persons authorized to accept the legacy may authorize any surgeon or
physician for the purpose.
Section 9. Manner of Executing a Donation. Any donation by a person authorized under
subsection (a) of Section 4 hereof shall be sufficient if it complies with the formalities of a donation of a
movable property.
In the absence of any of the persons specified under Section 4 hereof and in the absence of any
document of organ donation, the physician in charge of the patient, the head of the hospital or a
designated officer of the hospital who has custody of the body of the deceased classified as accident,
trauma, or other medico-legal cases, may authorize in a public document the removal from such body
for the purpose of transplantation of the organ to the body of a living person: Provided, That the
physician, head of hospital or officer designated by the hospital for this purpose has exerted
reasonable eforts, within forty-eight (48) hours, to locate the nearest relative listed in Section 4 hereof
or guardian of the decedent at the time of death.
In all donations, the death of a person from whose body an organ will be removed after his death for
the purpose of transplantation to a living person, shall be diagnosed separately and certified by two (2)
qualified physicians neither of whom should be:
(a) A member of the team of medical practitioners who will efect the removal of the organ from the
body; nor
(b) The physician attending to the receipt of the organ to be removed; nor
(c) The head of hospital or the designated officer authorizing the removal of the organ.
Section 10. Person(s) Authorized to Remove Transplantable Organs. Only authorized medical
practitioners in a hospital shall remove and/or transplant any organ which is authorized to be removed
and/or transplanted pursuant to Section 5 hereof.
Section 11. Delivery of Document of Legacy or Donation. If the legacy or donation is made to a
specified legatee or donee, the will, card or other document, or an executed copy thereof, may be
delivered by the testator or donor, or is authorized representative, to the legatee or donee to expedite
the appropriate procedures immediately after death. The will, card or other document, or an executed
copy thereof, may be deposited in any hospital or organ bank storage facility that accepts it for
safekeeping or for facilitation or procedures after death. On the request of any interested party upon or
after the testator's death, the person in possession shall produce the document of legacy or donation
for verification.
Section 12. Amendment or Revocation of Legacy or Donation.
a) If he will, card or other document, or an executed copy thereof, has been delivered to a specific
legatee or donee, the testator or donor may amend or revoke the legacy or donation either by:
(1) The execution and delivery to the legatee or donee of a signed statement to that efect; or
(2) An oral statement to that efect made in the presence of two other persons and communicated to
the legatee or donee; or
(3) A statement to that efect during a terminal illness or injury addressed to an attending physician
and communicated to the legatee or donee; or
(4) A signed card or document to that efect found on the person or efects of the testator or donor.
(b) Any will, card or other document, or an executed copy thereof, which has not been delivered to the
legatee or donee may be revoked by the testator or donor in the manner provided in subsection (a) of
this Section or by destruction, cancellation or mutilation of the document and all executed copies
thereof.
Any legacy made by a will may also be amended or revoked in the manner provided for amendment or
revocation of wills, or as provided in subsection (a) of this Section.

Section 13. Rights and Duties After Death.

(a) The legatee or donee may accept or reject the legacy or donation as the case may be. If the legacy
of donation is of a part of the body, the legatee or donee, upon the death of the testator and prior to
embalming, shall efect the removal of the part, avoiding unnecessary mutilation. After removal of the
part, custody of the remainder of the body vests in the surviving spouse, next of kin or other persons
under obligation to dispose of the body of the decedent.
(b) Any person who acts in good faith in accordance with the terms of this Act shall not be liable for
damages in any civil action or subject to prosecution in any criminal proceeding of this Act.
Section 14. International Sharing of Human Organs or Tissues. Sharing of human organs or
tissues shall be made only through exchange programs duly approved by the Department of Health:
Provided, That foreign organ or tissue bank storage facilities and similar establishments grant
reciprocal rights to their Philippine counterparts to draw organs or tissues at any time.
Section 15. Information Drive. In order that the public will obtain the maximum benefits from this
Act, the Department of Health, in cooperation with institutions, such as the National Kidney Institute,
civic and non-government health organizations and other health related agencies, involved in the
donation and transplantation of human organs, shall undertake a public information program.
The Secretary of Health shall endeavor to persuade all health professionals, both government and
private, to make an appeal for human organ donation.
Section 16. Rules and Regulations. The Secretary of Health, after consultation with all health
professionals, both government and private, and non-government health organizations shall
promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary or proper to implement this Act.
Section 17. Repealing Clause. All laws, decrees, ordinances, rules and regulations, executive or
administrative orders, and other presidential issuance inconsistent with this Act, are hereby repealed,
amended or modified accordingly.
Section 18. Separability Clause. The provisions of this Act are hereby deemed separable. If any
provision hereof should be declared invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining provisions shall remain
in full force and efect.
Section 19. Effectivity. This Act shall take efect after fifteen (15) days following its publication in
the Official Gazette or at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1056

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1056 - AN ACT TO AMEND REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-NIN
PERMISSIONS TO USE HUMAN ORGANS OR ANY PORTION OR PORTIONS OF THE HUMAN BODY FOR MEDICAL,
UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS"

Section 1.
Sections one of Republic Act Numbered Three hundred forty-nine, entitled "An Act to legalize permissions to u
portions of the human body for medical, surgical, or scientific purposes, under certain conditions", is hereby amended to r

"Section 1.
A person may validly grant to a licensed physician, surgeon, known scientist, or any medical or scientific ins
similar institutions, authority to detach at any time after the grantor's death any organ, part or parts of his body and to ut
scientific purposes.cralaw

"Similar authority may also be granted for the utilization for medical, surgical, or scientific purposes, of any organ, part or
reason, would be detached from the body of the grantor."
Sec. 2.

Section two of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 2.
The authorization referred to in section one of this Act must: be in writing; specify the person or institution gran
parts to be detached, the specific use or uses to which the organ, part or parts are to be employed; and, signed by the gra
witnesses.cralaw

"If the grantor is a minor or an incompetent person, the authorization may be executed by his guardian with the approval
legitimate father or mother, in the order, named. Married women may grant the authority referred to in section one of this

"After the death of the person, authority to use human organs or any portion or portions of the human body for medical, s
granted by his nearest relative or guardian at the time of his death or in the absence thereof, by the person or head of the
the body of the deceased: Provided, however, That the said person or head of the hospital or institution has exerted reaso
guardian or relative.cralaw

"A copy of every such authorization must be furnished the Secretary of Health."

Sec. 3.
A new section is hereby created immediately after section two of the aforesaid Republic Act Numbered Three hu
designate as section two-A, and shall read as follows:

"Sec. 2-A.
The provisions of sections one and two of this Act notwithstanding, it shall be illegal for any person or any ins
the body of a person dying of a dangerous communicable disease even if said organ or portion of the human body shall be
Any person who shall violate the provisions of this section shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than six mo
committed by an institution, corporation or association, the director, manager, president, and/or other officials and emplo
perform the act or acts resulting in said violation shall be held criminally responsible therefor."
Sec. 4.

This Act shall take efect upon its approval.cralaw