Short answer. Possibly, but with an important distinction. Article 1032 of the Civil Code lists parents who abandoned their children as unworthy to succeed — but this ground applies to inheriting from one's own children, not from a parent. Your sibling's abandonment of his children affects his right to inherit from them, not from your parent.
What the law says
Parents who have abandoned their children or induced their daughters to lead a corrupt or immoral life, or attempted against their virtue
Civil Code, Article 1032 — Unworthiness to Succeed. Read the full provision →
The abandonment ground targets the right to inherit from children
Article 1032 lists parents who have abandoned their children as incapable of succeeding by reason of unworthiness. This provision protects children from being inherited by the very parent who failed them. But the direction of inheritance matters: the ground applies when the parent seeks to inherit from the abandoned child, not when the parent inherits from their own parent. Your sibling's abandonment of his children makes him unworthy to inherit from those children — not from your deceased parent.
Inheriting from a grandparent is a different succession
Your sibling is inheriting from your parent — a grandparent of his own children. That is a completely separate succession from any inheritance your sibling might one day receive from his children. Article 1032's abandonment ground has no bearing on what your sibling inherits from your parent. The grounds for unworthiness in that article are specific and exhaustive; they cannot be extended to cover conduct that does not fit within any of the eight listed acts. Your sibling's failure as a parent is morally serious, but it is not a listed ground for unworthiness in your parent's estate.
What could be relevant grounds in your parent's estate
If you believe your sibling should be excluded from your parent's estate, you would need to identify one of the other grounds in Article 1032 that applies to conduct related to the testator. Did the sibling attempt against the testator's life? File a groundless criminal complaint against the testator? Use fraud or undue influence to affect the will? Conceal the will? Forge it? Commit adultery or concubinage with the testator's spouse? These are the grounds that matter in your parent's succession. None of them concern what the sibling did to his own children.
The abandonment ground may still matter — for his children
Even though your sibling's abandonment does not affect your parent's estate, it could be significant in the future. If your sibling's children predecease him or your sibling seeks to inherit from them someday, the abandonment ground in Article 1032 could bar his claim at that point. This is a long-term consideration worth keeping in mind, especially if his children are among the heirs in your parent's estate and the distributions eventually flow downstream. A lawyer can help you understand how these different successions interrelate.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Pedro Generosa, et al. vs. Pacita Prangan-Valera, G.R. No. 166521, August 31, 2006 — read the decision on LawPhil →