Short answer. Parental authority over a child's person covers caring for and rearing the child so as to build civic consciousness and efficiency, and developing the child's moral, mental, and physical character and well-being. Article 209 grounds this in the natural right and duty parents have over their unemancipated children's person and property.
What the law says
Pursuant to the natural right and duty of parents over the person and property of their unemancipated children, parental authority and responsibility shall include the caring for and rearing them for civic consciousness and efficiency and the development of their moral, mental and physical character and well-being.
Family Code, Article 209 — Nature of Parental Authority. Read the full provision →
The foundation: a natural right and duty
Article 209 frames parental authority as flowing from the natural right and duty of parents over the person and property of their unemancipated children. It is described as natural rather than merely something the law creates from scratch — the statute recognizes an existing relationship between parent and child and attaches legal authority and responsibility to it, running for as long as the child remains unemancipated.
What that authority and responsibility actually includes
Article 209 spells out the content of that authority as caring for and rearing them for civic consciousness and efficiency. This ties parental authority to a specific aim beyond simply feeding and housing a child — it is oriented toward preparing the child to function as a responsible, capable member of society, not only toward meeting immediate physical needs.
The three dimensions of a child's development it covers
The article further specifies the development of their moral, mental and physical character and well-being as part of what parental authority and responsibility include. That phrasing covers the child's ethical formation, intellectual growth, and bodily health together, rather than treating any one of the three as sufficient on its own — a parent's responsibility under this article runs across all three dimensions.
Authority and responsibility are paired, not separated
Article 209 treats parental authority and parental responsibility as one package rather than two separate things. The same natural right that lets a parent make decisions concerning the child's person also comes bundled with the duty to actually care for and rear the child toward the ends the article names — civic consciousness, efficiency, and moral, mental, and physical development — so the authority given here is not a bare power exercised for its own sake, but one tied to a corresponding obligation the parent owes the child in return.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- People of the Philippines vs. David Silvano Hayag, G.R. No. 127356, June 29, 1999 — read the decision on LawPhil →