Historical. Read this as the 1949 Civil Code’s programme for children, not as the operative law today. The ground it covers is now held by Presidential Decree No. 603, the Child and Youth Welfare Code, and by Republic Act No. 7610 on the protection of children against abuse, exploitation and discrimination; the courts that hear these cases are the Family Courts created by Republic Act No. 8369 (1997). The text below is reproduced as originally enacted, for reference only.
Text of the provision
Art. 360. The Council for the Protection of Children shall look after the welfare of children in the municipality. It shall, among other functions:
(1) Foster the education of every child in the municipality;
(2) Encourage the cultivation of the duties of parents;
(3) Protect and assist abandoned or mistreated children, and orphans;
(4) Take steps to prevent juvenile delinquency;
(5) Adopt measures for the health of children;
(6) Promote the opening and maintenance of playgrounds;
(7) Coordinate the activities of organizations devoted to the welfare of children, and secure their cooperation.
Civil Code of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 386, approved June 18, 1949, effective August 30, 1950. Reproduced in full; verified verbatim against the LawPhil and ChanRobles official-text renderings.
What this article means
Each municipality is to have a Council for the Protection of Children to look after child welfare — fostering education, encouraging parental duty, protecting abandoned or mistreated children and orphans, preventing juvenile delinquency, and taking measures for children’s health.
The Council’s mandate is administrative and preventive rather than judicial — it operates at the municipal level to coordinate education, health, and welfare measures for children generally, in contrast to the juvenile courts discussed in the following article, which address individual children who come before them in delinquency proceedings. The seven functions listed span from broad policy work, such as fostering education and opening playgrounds, to direct intervention for abandoned, mistreated, or orphaned children.
How this article reads today. Child welfare, including the councils for the protection of children, is now provided for principally by the Child and Youth Welfare Code (Presidential Decree No. 603) and later child-welfare legislation. Read this article together with those laws rather than on its own.
Questions about this provision
Related provisions
- Article 48 — Who Are Citizens of the Philippines.
- Article 366 — Surname of an Acknowledged Natural Child.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.