Short answer. Yes. Article 278 of the Revised Penal Code criminalizes delivering a child under 16 to acrobats, circus performers, or similar persons. When the delivery is made for payment or compensation, the penalty is imposed in its maximum period — a harsher outcome than a gratuitous delivery.
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 →
What Article 278 covers
Article 278 of the Revised Penal Code addresses the exploitation of minors through dangerous exhibitions and performances. One of the specific acts it punishes is the delivery of a child under 16 by an ascendant, guardian, teacher, or person entrusted with the child's care to any person engaged as an acrobat, gymnast, rope-walker, diver, wild-animal tamer, circus manager, or in a similar calling. The same provision also covers delivery to habitual vagrants or beggars. The baseline penalty is prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods plus a fine up to ₱100,000 under the current text (as amended by Republic Act No. 10951 in 2017).
Payment makes it worse
The article draws an explicit distinction between a gratuitous delivery and one made for money. When the guardian, parent, teacher, or caretaker hands the child over in consideration of any price, compensation, or promise, the penalty is imposed in its maximum period in every case — there is no discretion to impose a lesser sentence. A parent or guardian who receives payment for surrendering custody of a child to circus performers is in a categorically worse position under the law than one who did so without payment. The commercial transaction around a child's welfare aggravates the offense.
Additional consequences for the guardian
Beyond the imprisonment and fine, the article provides further consequences for guardians and parents convicted under this provision. A guardian or curator who is convicted shall also be removed from office. In the case of parents, the court may, in its discretion, temporarily or permanently deprive them of parental authority. These added consequences reflect the severity of the betrayal of trust involved — someone who was charged with protecting a child and instead delivered that child for dangerous exploitation loses the legal standing that came with that responsibility.
The article also covers inducing a child to leave
Separate from the guardian's delivery, Article 278 also punishes anyone who induces a child under 16 to abandon the home of their ascendants, guardians, or teachers in order to follow circus performers, acrobats, or habitual vagrants. This covers situations where the child is lured or persuaded to leave rather than being formally handed over. Whether the means is inducement of the child or payment to the guardian, the article closes both routes to the same harmful end.