What duties does a child owe to their parents and other relatives under the Civil Code?

Obedience and honor toward parents or guardian

The first duty Article 357 names is to obey and honor his parents or guardian. This pairs two distinct obligations — obedience, which concerns following the direction given by a parent or guardian, and honor, which concerns the respect and regard owed to them as such, independent of any specific instruction being given at a given moment. Both run for as long as the child remains under that parent's or guardian's authority.

Respect extends beyond parents to grandparents and others in that role

Article 357 widens the circle of respect beyond the immediate parent-child relationship. The child must respect his grandparents, old relatives, and persons holding substitute parental authority. This recognizes that a child's obligations run to the broader family structure and to whoever has actually stepped into a parental role, not only to a biological or adoptive parent directly, however that role came about.

A duty toward one's own education and training

Unlike the first two duties, which run toward other people, the third duty in Article 357 is directed at the child's own development: to exert his utmost for his education and training. The standard set is effort — doing one's best — rather than a fixed level of achievement such as particular grades or credentials, which the article does not itself name or require, leaving room for how that effort actually looks from one child to another.

Cooperating with the family for its common good

The final duty asks the child to cooperate with the family in all matters that make for the good of the same. This is broader than any single task; it frames the child as expected to contribute constructively to the family unit generally, in whatever way genuinely serves the family's welfare, rather than listing specific chores or contributions the law requires by name.

What Article 357 does not spell out

The article states these four duties without attaching a specific penalty for a child who falls short of any of them, and it does not turn the family relationship into a set of enforceable contractual promises running the other way. It functions instead as a statement of what a child owes within the family relationship, read alongside the corresponding duties the law places on parents, guardians, and others who exercise authority over 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.

• Heirs of Cerila Gamos, et al. vs. Heirs of Juliano Frando, et al, G.R. No. 149117, December 16, 2004 — read the decision on LawPhil →

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 357 — Duties of Every Child