Short answer. Philippine adoption policy has long favored relatives before allowing adoption by a stranger, but the specific law stating that preference — RA 8552 — was repealed in 2022 by RA 11642, which now runs domestic adoption as an administrative process through the National Authority for Child Care, so confirm the current standard under that newer framework.
What the law says
Only when such efforts prove insufficient and no appropriate placement or adoption within the child's extended family is available shall adoption by an unrelated person be considered
RA 8552, Section 2 — Declaration Of Policies. Read the full provision →
What RA 8552 said
The provision behind this question, RA 8552 Section 2, made kinship placement the default and adoption by a stranger the fallback. It states that adoption efforts should look first to the child's own family: only when such efforts prove insufficient and no appropriate placement or adoption within the child's extended family is available shall adoption by an unrelated person be considered. The policy reasoning was to keep a child within a family that already shares identity with them whenever realistically possible, and to treat placement with strangers as what happens once that option has been exhausted, not as an equal first choice.
That law has been repealed
RA 8552 was repealed in its entirety by Republic Act No. 11642 (2022), and domestic adoption is no longer processed as a court petition at all — it is now an administrative process before the National Authority for Child Care. The RA 8552 text quoted above is reproduced on this site for reference only, because it is the law as it stood when enacted, not the law currently in force. It is not the procedure to follow for an adoption filed today.
Why the underlying preference likely still matters
This site's verified statute library does not yet include RA 11642's own text, so this page cannot quote its exact current wording on family placement. What can be said honestly is that the preference for keeping a child within their own extended family before considering an unrelated adopter reflects a policy goal, and an international commitment reflected in instruments the older law cited, that predates RA 8552 and is not the kind of position a single repealing law would ordinarily be expected to abandon. That is a reasonable expectation, not a citation to current law.
What to check before relying on this
Anyone involved in an adoption, whether as a relative being asked to step forward or as a prospective adopter who is not related to the child, should confirm the current placement-preference rule, and how it is actually applied, with the National Authority for Child Care under RA 11642 rather than relying on RA 8552's repealed procedure. This page explains where the family-placement preference historically came from; it is not a statement of what RA 11642 itself currently requires.