Short answer. Article 358 of the Civil Code requires every parent — and everyone holding substitute parental authority — to see to it that the child's rights are respected and the child's duties are complied with. Beyond that, parents must actively form the child's character, by both precept and example.
What the law says
Every parent and every person holding substitute parental authority shall see to it that the rights of the child are respected and his duties complied with, and shall particularly, by precept and example, imbue the child with highmindedness, love of country, veneration for the national heroes, fidelity to democracy as a way of life, and attachment to the ideal of permanent world peace.
Civil Code, Article 358 — Parents Must Uphold These. Read the full provision →
The protective duty: ensuring rights and compliance with duties
Article 358 imposes a two-sided obligation. Parents and those exercising substitute parental authority must ensure that the child's rights are respected — this protects the child from having their legal entitlements violated, whether by third parties or even within the family itself. They must also see to it that the child complies with the child's own duties — children, even minors, have obligations recognized by law, and parents are responsible for teaching and enforcing those obligations. The article thus makes parents both protectors of the child and enforcers of the child's responsibilities.
Formation by precept and example
Article 358 goes beyond mere protection and compliance. It specifically directs parents to imbue the child with certain values — by both precept and example. The dual requirement of precept and example is significant: parents cannot merely instruct; they must model the values they are imparting. The values enumerated — highmindedness, love of country, veneration for national heroes, fidelity to democracy, and attachment to the ideal of permanent world peace — reflect a vision of citizenship and character that the law expects parents to cultivate in the next generation.
Who is covered: parents and substitute parental authority holders
Article 358 applies to every parent and to every person holding substitute parental authority. This means the duty does not end with biological parents — grandparents, relatives, or other persons legally entrusted with a child's upbringing carry the same obligation. When parental authority is transferred to a guardian, an institution, or another designated person, that person inherits the full scope of Article 358's requirements. The article ensures that no child under anyone's authority falls outside the protection and formation it mandates.
Relevance today
Article 358 is a Civil Code provision that predates the Family Code, which now governs parental authority more comprehensively. However, Article 358 continues to express the law's expectation that parenting is not merely custodial — it is formative. Courts applying Family Code provisions on the duties of parents may look to Article 358 as part of the statutory framework defining what active and responsible parenthood means under Philippine law. For parents trying to understand what the law expects of them, Article 358 provides the broadest statement of the parental role: protector, enforcer, and moral model.
Important: this article is no longer the operative law
Article 358 belongs to the 1949 Civil Code's programme for children and reads today as history rather than as the rule in force. The ground it covers is now held by Presidential Decree No. 603, the Child and Youth Welfare Code, which spells out the rights of the child and the corresponding duties of parents in far greater detail, and by Republic Act No. 7610, which protects children against abuse, exploitation and discrimination and attaches criminal liability to conduct the Civil Code addressed only in aspirational terms. Cases involving children are heard by the Family Courts created by Republic Act No. 8369. What the law demands of a parent today is measured by those statutes and by the Family Code, not by the article quoted above.