The Johan Journal

Title XV- CIVIL REGISTER Art. 407.   Acts, events and judicial decrees concerning the civil status of persons shall be recorded in the civil register. (325a) Art. 408. The following shall be entered in the civil register: (1) Births; (2) marriages; (3) deaths; (4) legal separations; (5) annulments of marriage; (6) judgments declaring marriages void from the beginning; (7) legitimations; (8) adoptions; (9) acknowledgments of natural children; (10) naturalization; (11) loss, or (12) recovery of citizenship; (13) civil interdiction; (14) judicial determination of filiation; (15) voluntary emancipation of a minor; and (16) changes of name. (326a) Art. 409. In cases of legal separation, adoption, naturalization and other judicial orders mentioned in the preceding article, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the court which issued the decree to ascertain whether the same has been registered, and if this has not been done, to send a copy of said decree ...

ARTICLE 211. The father and the mother shall jointly exercise parental authority over the persons of their common children. In case of disagreement, the father's decision shall prevail, unless there is a judicial order to the contrary. Children shall always observe respect and reverence towards their parents and are obliged to obey them as long as the children are under parental authority. (17a, P.D. No. 603) The general rule is that in matters of the physical, moral and educational development of the child, the parental authority is joint. However, the law recognizes preferential authority of the father in instances like: Art. 225 of the Family Code In case of conflict regarding the guardianship over a minor’s properties, the decision of the father shall prevail, except if there is a judicial order to the contrary. Art. 14 of the Family Code When the child gets married, but parental consent is needed, the father is preferred to that of the mother. ...

Proof of Filiation Art. 172. The filiation of legitimate children is established by any of the following: (1) The record of birth appearing in the civil register or a final judgment; or (2) An admission of legitimate filiation in a public document or a private handwritten instrument and signed by the parent concerned. In the absence of the foregoing evidence, the legitimate filiation shall be proved by: (1) The open and continuous possession of the status of a legitimate child; or (2) Any other means allowed by the Rules of Court and special laws. (265a, 266a, 267a) The Supreme Court in a case made the observation that: “Parentage, lineage and legitimacy cannot be made to depend upon parental authority or bodily marks of similarity. There is scarcely a family among any of the nationalities where there are a number of children, when one or more of them, due to heredity perhaps, do not resemble either of the immediate parents. Lineage cannot depend whol...