Parenting Legalities: Rights and Duties of Parents in the Philippines

Rights and duties of parents in the Philippines!

The sole purpose of couple parents in Philippine society is to protect and nurture their children’s future. In addition, as heads of their own family, they can also enjoy certain rights while doing their responsibilities.

So we as parents should know our responsibilities and rights in parenting our children. We listed the rights and duties of parents in the Philippines.

The Philippine social network branches out from its core, the smallest unit called the family. A family is composed of the parent and their children. In social science jargon, this composition is called a nuclear family.

If we have definite concepts regarding the composition of a family, legalities take place. Furthermore, Filipino families are governed under the constitution and laws, hence, the Family Code of the Philippines.

This Family Code of the Philippines centers on Article 220-221 Parental Authority, which statutes that parents should possess what their children lack, pertaining to maturity, experience, and capacity for sound judgments, subjected to norms and mores of the society.

Inside a Filipino household, there is an authoritative element, and in a country with the political ideals of democracy, parents as an authority have their rights to have and duties ought to do.

Rights and duties of Parents in the Philippines

Responsibilities as parents in the Philippines are accustomed to its cultural traditions and political norms. By virtue of the Family Code of the Philippines, we may need to review the articles 220-221 or the Effect of Parental Authority Upon the Persons of the children. 

Below are the mandates of Article 220 and Article 221: 

Article 220

Furthermore, parents and those exercising parental authority shall have with the respect to their unemancipated children on wards the following rights and duties:

(1) To keep them in their company, to support, educate and instruct them by right precept and good example, and to provide for their upbringing in keeping with their means;

This section pertains to the duty of the parents to nurture their children as examples of morality with the terms of the right to education. Therefore, it is a need to let them attend formal, non-formal, or alternative education depending on the necessity.

(2) To give them love and affection, advice and counsel, companionship and understanding;

As parents, one of our responsibilities would be to provide our children with quality education and provide for our children’s needs. Good parenthood may result in a mentally and physically sufficient youth. 

(3) To provide them with moral and spiritual guidance, inculcate in them honesty, integrity, self-discipline, self-reliance, industry and thrift, stimulate their interest in civic affairs, and inspire in them compliance with the duties of citizenship;

The parents are also a source of guidance to their children in the spectrum of social and individual responsibilities. In line with that, we should teach our children to be disciplined and have honesty.

You can check out this article to teach your child to be respectful and honest.  Click here!

(4) To furnish them with good and wholesome educational materials, supervise their activities, recreation and association with others, protect them from bad company, and prevent them from acquiring habits detrimental to their health, studies, and morals;

As parents, you may not want your children to be ignorant of their social affairs and how to always choose the right company. With this, you are expected to provide them with their personal growth and development.

(5) To represent them in all matters affecting their interests;

You as parents are also responsible for your child’s interests. You should let them explore their own preferences. but it is also expected that you should be wary of interests that may not be good for their aspirations.

(6) To demand from them respect and obedience;

Respect and obedience from your children starting from your household is also their practice of respecting other individuals in their society and obedience to the law. 

(7) To impose discipline on them as may be required under the circumstances; and

Disciplinary actions are to be given depending on the situation your children arrived in. You should avoid unnecessary disciplinary mandates which will affect their mental and physical disposition to go bad. 

(8) To perform such other duties as are imposed by law upon parents and guardians. 

That other duties may include providing a peaceful life and necessary material needs, these are also part of the parent’s responsibilities to their children. 

Article 220 enumerated specific duties and responsibilities that encapsulate every parent’s intention of them being parents. It is to reflect and reiterate the definition of law regarding parents and families to be realized.

Article 221

Parents and other persons exercising parental authority shall be civilly liable for the injuries and damages caused by the acts or omissions of their unemancipated children living in their company and under their parental authority subject to the appropriate defenses provided by law. 

Any unjust situations that may happen under your custody as parents or guardians will be your responsibility to the children and defiance to the laws on parental authority. 

To effectively do your responsibilities and avoid unhealthy relationships with your children as both articles 220 and 221 explained, we also need to list down the rights of the children constituted by the Parental Authority from the Family code. 

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By listing down, you as parents are acknowledging your children’s individual situation that may differ from others, These are the following rights of children parallel to the parent’s responsibilities, reiterating the Article 3 rights of the child:

1. The right to be born well and endowed with dignity as human beings

The right of every person should start with their natural right to live. As children, they have the right to be born and should be given rights as a human.

2. Rights to love, care, and shelter

The provision of home as a symbolic structure of every family is also a right of your children. The shelter is a must. 

3. Right to a well-rounded development of personality to be an active member of society

As parents, we should also share our knowledge with them. Teach them to be independent so they can grow up and be a good citizen in our society. 

In line with this, teaching them good manners is one of our sole responsibilities under our Philippine Consitution. 

The emotionally disturbed or socially maladjusted child shall be treated with sympathy and understanding and shall be entitled to treatment and competent care.

It is your responsibility to be the first to attend to your children’s needs for understanding their mental state. As parents, we should be mindful of their mental health and help them to overcome it. 

The physically or mentally handicapped child shall be given the treatment, education, and care required by his particular condition.

You don’t want your children who are physically or mentally challenged to be not treated normally. They are also human beings, members of society who must be given rights.

4. Right to a healthy and vigorous life

Economic and physiological necessities are also their rights as your children to continue their journey as growing individuals. 

5. Right to enrichment and the strengthening of their character

You need also to give them space for learning the right and wrong that will enhance their values as citizens of the society.

6. Right to education for the improvement of his capacity for service to himself and to his fellowmen

Education helps prepare your children’s future and honing of their skills.

7. The right to recreation and use of leisure hours

It is also part of human life that children need time for recreation which will help them in their goals and that should come from your initiative to let them explore.

8. the right to be protected against exploitation, improper influences, hazards, and other conditions or circumstances prejudicial to his physical, mental, emotional, social and moral development

Your parental guidance that teaches your children regarding their civil rights to be safe from social injustices is needed.  

New challenges for parents and families in the PH

To fully achieve the rights and duties of Filipino parents, financial stability and parental counseling could be helpful to them. The neglect of economical challenges and mental and physical stature may affect your responsibilities as parents to your children and can compromise their rights.

To name a few challenges that parents and families may face in the present situation. At this time following issues we need to address are: 

• Poverty and/or lack of sustenance

The parents’ negligence of the physical and mental stability of their home would be a disaster not only within themselves but mostly for their children. It is also crucial that poverty as a crisis is the root cause of lack of sustenance in most families. 

In addition common household with a working member of the family as recommended by the PH government should withstand the daily necessities with P10, 756 monthly income. However, the prices of these necessities are not reciprocal with this threshold. 

• Separation of couple parents

The separation of a couple of parents could also affect the situation of the children. Giving sustenance while separated is arbitrary to every concerned family in this situation, and sometimes it is not considered.

This issue can also be incorporated with unplanned circumstances.

Child Support in the Philippines

Under the family code, parents should provide financial needs of their children, we have legal duties for that. When husband and wife separate the law states that both parents share the financial needs of their children. Whether they are separated or not. 

If these rights and duties of parents in the Philippines are not fulfilled, the other party can be criminally charged. 

• Violence against women and children

Since women and children in Filipino households are always subjected to different forms of violence. In parent couples’ conscious decisions, they are also provided with marital counseling to find solutions to marriage or pre-marriage problems that may arise once they are in the same house. 

Certain laws are also imposed regarding this issue to protect the women and children of the family.

Moreover, a safe, caring, and nurturing household needs knowledgeable parents that can enjoy their rights and do their duties for their children. Different families have different situations in which they are in.

And they should still acknowledge the mores and laws to sustain their family’s necessities and to ensure their children’s future.