GR 113054; (March, 1995) (Digest)
G.R. No. 113054 March 16, 1995
LEOUEL SANTOS, SR., petitioner-appellant, vs. COURT OF APPEALS, and SPOUSES LEOPOLDO and OFELIA BEDIA, respondents-appellees.
FACTS
Petitioner Leouel Santos, Sr., an army lieutenant, and Julia Bedia were married in 1986 and had one child, Leouel Santos, Jr., born on July 18, 1987. From the time the child was released from the hospital, he was placed in the temporary custody of his maternal grandparents, respondents Leopoldo and Ofelia Bedia, who paid for the hospital bills and his support. The child’s mother, Julia Bedia-Santos, left for the United States in May 1988 to work. On September 2, 1990, petitioner took the child from the Bedia household and brought him to his hometown. The Bedias filed a “Petition for Care, Custody and Control of Minor Ward Leouel Santos Jr.” before the Regional Trial Court of Iloilo City. After an ex-parte hearing, the trial court awarded custody to the grandparents. The Court of Appeals affirmed this decision. Petitioner now seeks a review, contending he should have custody as the natural father and that the grandparents failed to prove his unfitness.
ISSUE
Who should properly be awarded custody of the minor Leouel Santos, Jr.?
RULING
The Supreme Court GRANTED the petition, REVERSED and SET ASIDE the decision of the Court of Appeals, and awarded custody of the minor Leouel Santos, Jr. to his legitimate father, petitioner Leouel Santos, Sr. The Court held that parental authority is inalienable and may only be substituted under specific circumstances outlined in Article 214 of the Family Code, i.e., when both parents are dead, absent, or unsuitable. The father, being present, is preferred over the grandparents. The reasons cited by the lower courts—the grandparents’ demonstrated love and financial ability, the father’s past failure to provide financial support, his military assignments, and his use of trickery to take the child—were insufficient to prove him unfit or unsuitable. The child’s welfare remains paramount, but the natural father’s right to custody prevails absent a showing of unfitness.