Short answer. Yes. Article 278 of the Revised Penal Code makes removal from office automatic for a convicted guardian or curator who delivers a child to a circus performer or similar caller — and because payment was involved here, the criminal penalty itself must also be imposed in its maximum period rather than the ordinary range.
What the law says
the guardian or curator convicted shall also be removed from office as guardian or curator
Revised Penal Code, Article 278 — Exploitation Of Minors. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If the delivery shall have been made in consideration of any price, compensation, or promise, the penalty shall in every case be imposed in its maximum period.
Revised Penal Code, Article 278 — Exploitation Of Minors. Read the full provision →
Removal from office is automatic upon conviction
Article 278 states plainly that the guardian or curator convicted shall also be removed from office as guardian or curator. This consequence attaches whenever a guardian is convicted under this provision for delivering a child under sixteen to a circus performer, wild-animal tamer, acrobat, or similar caller — it is not left to discretion the way the parents' loss of parental authority is. Losing the guardianship is not an additional penalty imposed separately; it is a direct legal consequence written into the same paragraph that defines the offense.
Why payment raises the stakes
The base offense is delivering the child gratuitously — without payment — to the circus or similar caller. But the article adds that if the delivery was made in consideration of any price, compensation, or promise, the penalty must in every case be imposed in its maximum period. Being paid does not create a separate crime; it pushes the same offense into the harshest range of the penalty the law already provides, on top of the removal from office that follows conviction either way.
How this differs from a parent's situation
The article treats a convicted guardian or curator differently from a convicted parent. Removal from office is mandatory for the guardian or curator once convicted. For a parent in the same situation, the consequence is instead that the court may, in its discretion, deprive them of parental authority temporarily or permanently — a discretionary step rather than an automatic one. The guardianship relationship, unlike the parent-child relationship, is treated as something the law can and does withdraw the moment the guardian is convicted of this offense.
The underlying offense and its penalty
The base penalty under Article 278 is prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods, plus a fine not exceeding ₱100,000 — figures reflecting the amounts set by Republic Act No. 10951, which updated the fines across the Revised Penal Code in 2017. Older copies of the Code may still show the original, lower fine, so it is worth confirming which version of the text a source is using before relying on the amount.