Art. 236.

Emancipation shall terminate parental authority over the person and property
of the child who shall then be qualified and responsible for all acts of civil life, save the
exceptions established by existing laws in special cases.
Art. 234. Emancipation takes place by the attainment of majority. Unless otherwise
provided, majority commences at the age of eighteen years.
Art. 222. The courts may appoint a guardian of the child's property or a guardian
ad litem when the best interests of the child so requires. (317)
Sec. 4. Grounds of petition.-The grounds for the appointment of a guardian over the person or property, or both, of a minor are the
following:
(a) death, continued absence, or incapacity of his parents;
(b) suspension, deprivation or termination of parental authority;
(c) remarriage of his surviving parent, if the latter Is found unsuitable to exercise parental authority; or
(d) when the best interests of the minor so require.

Where the market value of the property or the annual income of the child exceeds
P50,000, the parent concerned shall be required to furnish a bond in such amount as
the court may determine, but not less than ten per centum (10%) of the value of the
property or annual income, to guarantee the performance of the obligations prescribed
for general guardians.
A verified petition for approval of the bond shall be filed in the proper court of the place
where the child resides, or, if the child resides in a foreign country, in the proper court of
the place where the property or any part thereof is situated.
The petition shall be docketed as a summary special proceeding in which all incidents
and issues regarding the performance of the obligations referred to in the second
paragraph of this Article shall be heard and resolved.
The ordinary rules on guardianship shall be merely suppletory except when the child is
under substitute parental authority, or the guardian is a stranger, or a parent has
remarried, in which case the ordinary rules on guardianship shall apply.

Art. 226. The property of the unemancipated child earned or acquired with his work or industry or by onerous or gratuitous title shall
belong to the child in ownership and shall be devoted exclusively to the latter's support and education, unless the title or transfer
provides otherwise.
The right of the parents over the fruits and income of the child's property shall be limited primarily to the child's support and
secondarily to the collective daily needs of the family.
To manage the property of the ward frugally and without waste, and apply the income and profits thereon, insofar as may be
necessary, to the comfortable and suitable maintenance of the ward; and if such income and profits be insufficient for that purpose,
to sell or encumber the real or personal property, upon being authorized by the court to do so

Session 5. Minors as Decision-Makers Joel E. Frader, MD, MA, FAAP, and Erin
Flanagan, MD Overview Some empirical evidence suggests that on average, 14year-olds have cognitive or reasoning capacity equivalent to 20- to 22-year-olds.
However, information from social psychology studies indicate that as a group,
teenagers have at least 3 characteristics that may limit the quality of decisions they
make: 1) teens have a high tolerance for risk; 2) they attend primarily to shortterm

consequences of their actions; and 3) they are more easily influenced by others (eg,
peers, parents) than they will be when somewhat older. In addition,
neuropsychological studies have begun to show that brain capacity does not mature
until approximately 25 years of age. Our society, for complex social and political
reasons, permits independent decision-making for most matters, including health
care, at age 18 years. Despite accumulating science indicating caution about this
arbitrary age cutoff, we generally uphold 18 as the age of majority. Further
complexity enters into this because some minors, though by no means all, with
chronic medical conditions and considerable experience in the health care system
seem mature beyond their years. Arguably, such medically mature minors should
have decision-making authority well before their 18th birthdays.

In the United States, child laws grant parents the power to have access to their child's
monetary funds, as well as control over their savings. In many cases, child laws do
nothing to stop parents from taking advantage of this access in order to steal money
from their children. They will take what their child earns and spend it on themselves.
The minor may not have any knowledge that their parent or guardian is spending their
money until the money is already gone. This is a very unfortunate situation that happens
often to child stars.
Talented children may earn millions by pursuing a career in acting, singing or modeling.
The child's parents may believe that they have a right to spend the money that their
child earns, as the minor would not be where they are without the assistance of their
parents. Child law does not protect a minor's finances from such occurrences.
Such was the case with Jackie Coogan, who played Uncle Fester in the television show
The Addams Family. He made millions as a child actor, but he never received any of the
money that he earned because his parents spent it all. Child star Macauley Culkin
experienced a similar situation, in which his parents stole all of the money that he
earned. However, he fought to win back what was rightfully his.
As a result of incidents similar to these, California created a new child law, The Coogan
Law, in which a portion a child star's earnings are to be put away in a special savings
account. Unfortunately, not everyone is a child star and the Coogan Law does not apply
to common minors. A minor who wishes to protect their financial funds from their
parents may seek a complete emancipation as an alternative.
In many situations, a minor will choose to become emancipated from their parents in
order to become financially independent. Child laws regarding emancipation will allow
an emancipated minor to have control over their own finances and will not allow parents
or guardians to have access to the child's monetary funds.
If a child has acquired a large amount of money, be it through inheritance or by making
a living in professions such as singing, acting or modeling, the child may choose to be
emancipated. This may be in order to protect their finances or because they are able to
provide financial support for themselves and want to have control of their own lives.
Child laws give an emancipated minor all of the rights of an adult. Therefore, due to
existing child laws an emancipated minor has the right to enter into a binding contract,
such a signing a lease. Child law also grants an emancipated minor the ability to own a

house or to buy and sell property. A child may seek emancipation in order to obtain
these rights, should they be financially situated to buy a house or rent an apartment.
Many individuals who reach the age of majority and wish to attend school are still
required to be claimed as dependents by their parents when they are applying for
financial aid. Due to the income of their parents, many students are unable to receive
financial aid, even if their parents are not helping to pay the tuition.
Many students will seek an emancipation to receive larger student loans. This is not
usually helpful because if the student is eighteen years old, then they are most likely
already emancipated, though this is dependent on the State. An emancipated student
can still be claimed as a dependent of their parents, and therefore, emancipation may
not help them to receive financial aid

By analogy, we can apply the case of Beltran et. al. vs. The Secretary of Health (GR no. 133640), promulgated En
Banc by the Supreme Court on November 25, 2005. Petitioners Beltran and others, all operators of privately-owned
commercial blood bank companies, questioned the constitutionality of the National Blood Services Act of 1994
(R.A. 7719), which called for the phase-out of all commercial blood bank companies within two years from the
effectivity of the Act. Among others, the law sought to encourage voluntary blood donations instead of persons
selling their blood to the commercial blood banks. It was learned that most of the persons who sell their blood are
poor so they make a livelihood selling their blood. The Supreme Court quoted the petitioners as follows: xxx under
the Civil Code, the human body and its organs like the heart, the kidney and the liver are outside the commerce of
man xxx.
It therefore appears that a human organ is a not a proper object of a valid contract. A females vagina, uterus,
fallopian tubes, cervix and ovary are part of her internal reproductive organ, being a human organ, it is beyond the
commerce of man.
In a surrogacy, the surrogate mother and the putative parents sign a contract that promises the couple will cover all
medical expenses in addition to the womans payment, and the surrogate mother will hand over the baby after birth.
The essential elements of a valid contract are consent, cause and consideration. A surrogacy contract may be
attacked that its object is beyond the commerce of man.
*Article 1318 of the Civil Code provides:
There is no contract unless the following requisites concur:
1.
2.
3.

Consent of the contracting parties.

Object certain which is the subject matter of the contract.
Cause of the obligation which is established.

Per the Civil Code, the requisites of things as object of a contract are the following:
a. The thing must be within the commerce of man (*Art. 1347).
b. It must not be impossible, legally or physically (*Art. 1348).
c. It must be in existence or capable of coming into existence (*Arts. 1461, 1493 and 1494).
d. It must be determinate or determinable without the need of a new contract between the parties (*Arts. 1349,
1460).
The law does not confer upon A and B (the donor parents) the right to claim parental right over the child that
actually came from the womb of C (the surrogate) to be considered as their legitimate child, unless they resort to
adoption, says the lawyer-author.
Biologically, the child may carry the mother and fathers DNA, genes and traits (although some scientists say the
surrogates genes may be present as well), but the law recognizes as mother only the woman who carried the child to
term.