Under-aged parents’ kids legitimized soon

Children whose parents are minors and who are deemed illegitimate since they were born out of wedlock will soon be considered legitimate.

That is if Bill 4244, which the House has passed on third and final reading, becomes law.

The measure would amend the Family Code of 1997 by providing that children born to parents who are minors and therefore not qualified to marry would be considered legitimate after the parents reach the age of 18 and marry each other.

Deputy Majority Leader Eduardo Gullas, one of the bill’s authors, lamented that a child whose parents were below 18 could never be legitimated under the present Family Code.

Only through the process of adoption by his or her own parents could this child enjoy the same legal standing as a legitimate offspring, he said.

However, Gullas added, adoption is a "tedious and costly" process.

"Parents barred by law from marrying each other only because either party is or both parents are below 18, and who are otherwise qualified to marry each other, whose love has withstood the pressure of society, and who eventually formalize their union through marriage upon reaching the qualifying age, definitely deserve praise and support," he stressed.

He pointed out that the bill would erase the stigma of illegitimate children.

"They will be able to grow normally and establish their legal rights as legitimate offspring. They will enjoy the same legal status and rights to succession as full-blooded siblings," said Gullas.

The Family Code, under Article 177, provides that "only children conceived and born outside of wedlock of parents who, at the time of the conception of the former, were not disqualified by any impediment to marry each other, may be legitimated."

The same law states that one of the legal impediments to a valid marriage is the minor age of either parent or both parents.

Bill 4244 would add the following proviso to Article 177: "Provided that, the minority of either or both parents shall not serve as impediment for their children to be legitimated after both parents have reached the age of majority and subsequently marry each other."

Gullas said there is no better way to reward young parents than to have their children, born illegitimately when they still could not validly marry due to their tender ages, legitimated by their subsequent marriage. — Jess Diaz