Short answer. No. Republic Act No. 8187 grants paternity leave only to a married male employee, for the delivery of his legitimate spouse with whom he is cohabiting. An unmarried father does not qualify under this Act. A separate law grants leave to qualified solo parents, but that is a different benefit with its own conditions.
What the law says
every married male employee in the private and public sectors shall be entitled to a paternity leave of seven (7) days with full pay for the first four (4) deliveries of the legitimate spouse with whom he is cohabiting
RA 8187, Section 2 — Seven Days Paternity Leave. Read the full provision →
The benefit is for a married male employee
Paternity leave under Republic Act No. 8187 is defined narrowly by whom it covers. The law provides that every married male employee in the private and public sectors shall be entitled to a paternity leave of seven (7) days with full pay for the first four (4) deliveries of the legitimate spouse with whom he is cohabiting. The entitlement is keyed to marriage: the employee must be married, and the leave is tied to the delivery of his legitimate spouse. An employee who is not married simply does not fall within the class the statute grants the benefit to.
The conditions built into the grant
Several requirements are packed into the same sentence. The employee must be male and married; the leave attaches to the delivery of his legitimate spouse; the spouse must be one with whom he is cohabiting; and the entitlement covers only the first four deliveries. The leave runs for seven days with full pay. Each of these conditions narrows the benefit, and the marriage requirement in particular is what an unmarried father cannot satisfy, whatever his role in raising the child.
What counts as a delivery
The Act does take a broad view of the event that triggers the leave. For its purposes, delivery includes childbirth or any miscarriage. So a married male employee is not limited to a live birth; a miscarriage suffered by his legitimate spouse can also entitle him to the leave, subject to the same overall conditions. This reflects that the purpose of the leave is to let the husband support and care for his wife around the difficult event, not merely to celebrate a birth.
An unmarried father's other options
Because Republic Act No. 8187 is limited to married employees, an unmarried father cannot claim paternity leave under it when his partner gives birth. That does not necessarily leave every such employee without any leave: a separate statute provides parental leave for qualified solo parents, which has its own eligibility rules and requirements. But that is a distinct benefit under a different law, not paternity leave. Under this Act specifically, marriage to the mother is a precondition the unmarried father does not meet.