rights of a father

Good day po sa inyong lahat,im about to share my situation right now. as usual unmarried katulad ng mga post dito ng mga dehadong ama sa karapatan sa anak. sa kaso ko ung ex gf ko ay sinasabihan ako na wag n kong pumunta sa bahay nila para makita ang anak ko. meron ba syang karapatan alisan ako ng karapatan sa anak ko gayun di ako nagkulang sa pagsuporta sa kanila simula pa ng ipinagbubuntis nya pa ito? mahal ko ang anak ko responsable at gagawin ko mapabuti kalagayan nya,ngunit ngayon pa lamang inaalisan nya na ako ng karapatan sa anak ko. pati magulang nya mali tingin sa akin dahil sa simpatiya nila sa anak nila. ano pa ba ang pwede kong gawin sa pagkakataon pagkait nila ipakita ang anak ko sa akin?salamat po at magandang araw sa inyo.

You failed to mention in your post if you recognized your child in the Birth Certificate, that being so, we will presume that indeed you did acknowledge the child as yours. As such, you are compelled to give support to your child. This is in accordance with Article 195 of the Family Code of the Philippines which reads as follows:

“Art. 195 Subject to the provisions of the succeeding articles, the following are obliged to support each other to the whole extent set forth in the preceding article: xxx

(4) Parents and their illegitimate children and the legitimate and illegitimate children of the latter; and xxx”

Insofar as the custody of your child is concerned, there is no doubt that it is the mother who shall exercise the same. This is because the parental authority over an illegitimate child is exercised only by the mother (Article 176 of the Family Code of the Philippines as amended by Republic Act (R. A.) No. 9255).

However, it does not follow that just because the child is under the sole parental authority of the mother, the biological father has no right over the child. The latter has a right to see or visit the child. This is the pronouncement of the Supreme Court in the case of Joey D. Briones vs. Maricel P. Miguel (G.R. No. 156343, October 18, 2004, 440 SCRA 455), to wit:

“We likewise affirm the visitorial right granted by the CA to petitioner. In Silva v. Court of Appeals, the Court sustained the visitorial right of an illegitimate father over his children in view of the constitutionally protected inherent and natural right of parents over their children. Even when the parents are estranged and their affection for each other is lost, their attachment to and feeling for their offspring remain unchanged. Neither the law nor the courts allow this affinity to suffer, absent any real, grave or imminent threat to the well-being of the child.”

Thus, your Ex-GF cannot deny your right to visit your child. However, there is no law mandating the frequency and the manner on how you shall exercise this right, it depends upon the consensus of both you.

To elaborate some more, tell me what happened, how did it arrived to his situation?

..Hi...I like this topic..what if the mother is always looking for ways/reasons that prevent the father to see his child even the court already allowed the father for visitation rights? Thank you.

She cannot do this to you and your Child; you have all the right to visit your Child.

[1] The mother has exclusive parental authority over her illegitimate child (Art. 176 of the Family Code). For example, a DSWD travel clearance is not required for an illegitimate child traveling abroad with the mother.

[2] The biological father has visitorial right over his illegitimate children in view of the constitutionally protected inherent and natural right of parents over their children (Supreme Court ruling in Silva v. Court of Appeals, 1997). This right is personal to the father; no other person, like grandparents, can exercise this right for him.

Silva (the father) may have won with the Supreme Court’s upholding of his visitation rights, but this favorable decision did not prevent Suzanne (the mother) in the exercise of her parental authority from immigrating to Holland with her two children.

[3] The right to visitation and the duty to pay child support are distinct and separate.

[4] If the mother and the father of the illegitimate child can agree on the terms and conditions of the visitation, then there will be no problem. In case of disagreement however, the father must file a petition asking the court to settle the terms and conditions.

...Thank you jd88 for your reply...I have another question..what if the child is under the care of the grandparents(mother side) and the child's parents are working abroad in 2 different countries and the father wants to have a conversation with his child by telephone, web chat, etc..but everytime he requests this, the family of the mother prevents him to talk to the child..is there a legal action for this?..thank you again.

homosapien wrote:...Thank you jd88 for your reply...I have another question..what if the child is under the care of the grandparents(mother side) and the child's parents are working abroad in 2 different countries and the father wants to have a conversation with his child by telephone, web chat, etc..but everytime he requests this, the family of the mother prevents him to talk to the child..is there a legal action for this?..thank you again.

Hi. I have seen your other posts regarding your situation. I think the first step to do is to talk to the mother of your kid and insist your rights over the child. Now you mentioned in your previous post that her parents is no longer capable of taking care of your child due to their advance age, you can use it as leverage in your favor. Because although the mother have the full parental authority over the child, she need to be physically present to care of the child. if that is not possible she can authorized a close relative (in this case her parents) to take care of her child. But as you have said her parent are too old to take care of the child… Yaya is not acceptable.

Full parental authority of the mother over an illegitimate child is not absolute. The court may remove that right from the mother if they sees a compelling reason. The welfare of the child is always the priority of the court.

Hi, what if the mother and child is living in an environment proven hostile for the father to visit?

like for example my case, i tried to visit my children at my former partner's home, but her dad did not allow me to enter and cursed at me and threatened my life (with outstanding police and barangay blotter)

hi good day, apologized for the late response, yes my baby carried my surname ,i acknowledged,i t was recognized him as my son.

pano po dapat kong gawin,wala akong magawa kahit na ginagawa ko naman ang responsibilidad ko bilang ama sa anak ko. yung lola o yung nanay ng ex partner ko,sinasabihan ako ng naaasiwa daw sya kapag pumupunta ako dun,at sinasabihan ako na wag nalang pumunta. nagkakasagutan lang kami at di ko makasama ang anak tuwing pupunta ako sa kanila

share ko na din po isa silang jehova's witness,at kahit masakit samin 2 ng ex partner ko kailangan namin di magsama dahil sa pamantayan nila,isa po akong katoliko. meron po ba akong maipaglalaban sa kanila na kailangan ko at gusto ko makita't makasama ang anak ko o maisama man lang sa bahay ko kundi man sila pumapayag na padalawin ako sa kanila.

today is fathers day, but today i wasn't able to visit my child i dont have a chance to see him on this very special day.

thank you in advance,happy fathers day sa lahat ng tatay katulad ko.

rajko17 wrote:hi good day, apologized for the late response, yes my baby carried my surname ,i acknowledged,i t was recognized him as my son.

pano po dapat kong gawin,wala akong magawa kahit na ginagawa ko naman ang responsibilidad ko bilang ama sa anak ko. yung lola o yung nanay ng ex partner ko,sinasabihan ako ng naaasiwa daw sya kapag pumupunta ako dun,at sinasabihan ako na wag nalang pumunta. nagkakasagutan lang kami at di ko makasama ang anak tuwing pupunta ako sa kanila

share ko na din po isa silang jehova's witness,at kahit masakit samin 2 ng ex partner ko kailangan namin di magsama dahil sa pamantayan nila,isa po akong katoliko. meron po ba akong maipaglalaban sa kanila na kailangan ko at gusto ko makita't makasama ang anak ko o maisama man lang sa bahay ko kundi man sila pumapayag na padalawin ako sa kanila.

today is fathers day, but today i wasn't able to visit my child i dont have a chance to see him on this very special day.

thank you in advance,happy fathers day sa lahat ng tatay katulad ko.

sana di matabunan.pls seeking for advice sir/madam, good day,.

if negotiation is no longer possible. consider filing a complaint at their bgy for enforcement of your right to visit the child. you can escalate later on to a petition in court.

Hi, my husband had a mistress and a daughter. Their daughter was not using his last name and my husband was not there when the child was born because they broke up. When the baby was 4 months old the woman left the child in his house so my husband took care of her and gave her financial support. until the time comes when the baby was about 1 1/2 yrs old. someone took her from us nd take care of her because we can no longer take care of her bec our maid leave and also bec we had an eldest son which goes to school as well and we had another baby this year. So the woman is threatening us of filing a case for child support. she said that we failed to give financial support and did not visit her child for about a month. We have difficulties financially is it ok if we just visit his daughter? Besides the mother also failes to give support and the child is not on her custody. How can we possible win this case? Pls help! Thanks a lot!

answered your other posts

hi good day to all,
sinabi po at nasagot na katanungan ko dito na kapag d ako pnapayagan bumisita s anak ko kahit nkapagfile na ko ng complaint s brgy.paulit ulit lang ang scenario,ppnta ko sa anak ko pero d nila ipapahawak sa akin.minsan nagsasawa na ako sa sinasabi nila wag na ko sumoporta s anak q di nla kailangan. kapag gnwa ko po ba d n sumoporta ano mangyayari skn mkakasuhan po ba ako?