Michael is only 16 and he looks as if nothing is wrong with him. He was supposed to be in college this year but opted not to enroll since his father wanted the son to join him in the United Kingdom. “That’s where I will take my college course,” he said.
Michael wants to become a medical doctor just like his father, who is now a respiratory therapist in another country. “I want to help other people,” he said.
He seemed to be a very young determined man. But what most people don’t know is that he is an illegitimate son. He was only two weeks old when his mother left him to his father.
“I had not seen my mother and no one really told me the reason why she left me,” he said.
Fortunately, he was loved by his grandmother who took care of him. His father got married and has two children. His two aunts, however, brought him up into a fine young man. “I treat both of them as my mother,” he said.
According to the National Statistics Office, four of every 10 babies born in the country are illegitimate and one of them came from a teenage mother. The nationwide data on births are based on certificates of live birth transmitted by city, municipal and civil registrars.
The law says that “children conceived or born during the marriage of the parents are legitimate.”
What about those conceived or born outside of marriage? The law says it bluntly: “Children conceived and born outside a valid marriage are illegitimate, unless otherwise provided in this Code.”
The “Code” refers to the Family Code of the Philippines.
The following are considered illegitimate children: children born to couples who are not legally married or of common-law marriages; children born of incestuous marriages; children born of bigamous marriages; and children born of adulterous relations between parents.
Children are also considered illegitimate when they are born of marriages void for reason of public policy under Art 38 of the Family Code; born of couples below 18, whether they are married (in which case the marriage is void) or not; and born of other void marriages under Art. 15 unless otherwise provided.
“The general rule is that an illegitimate child shall use the surname of the mother. An illegitimate child is a child born out of wedlock,” explained Laws for Life, authored by Gianna Reyes Montinola and Maria Victoria Rotor-Hilado.
But the illegitimate child can use the father’s surname “provided the father recognizes or acknowledges the child and executes and submits, among others, an Affidavit of Acknowledgement or Affidavit of Admission of Paternity, and the Affidavit to Use the Surname of the Father” (Republic Act No. 9255).
If the father acknowledges the illegitimate child, the son or daughter can carry the mother’s surname as his or her middle name.
But if the illegitimate child is not acknowledged by the father, he or she will never carry a middle name and will only have the surname of the mother as the last name and with no middle name.
“If your child has been recognized by his father, he shall have the right to receive financial support from him,” Atty. Persida Acosta wrote in her column for Manila Times, “However, if the father of your child unjustly refuses to recognize your child, you may seek redress from the court by filing a petition for compulsory recognition and support.”
In Laws for Life, the authors said that an illegitimate child should be supported by his or her parents. “Support comprises everything indispensable for sustenance, dwelling, clothing, medical attendance, education and transportation” (Article 105 of the Family Code).
Meanwhile, the Family Code does not provide a specific percentage of the monthly salary for the support. In a blog posted by Atty. Gerry T. Galacio, this explanation was given: “(The Code) only provides that the amount of support is balanced between the necessities of the person asking for support and the financial capability of the person from whom support is being asked. Support can be reduced or increased proportionately, according to the reduction or increase of the necessities of the recipient and the resources or means of the person obliged to furnish the same.”
Being an illegitimate child should not serve as a hindrance to success. Mental Floss, an American publication which I used to write for, listed some famous men and women who were born out of wedlock.
Thomas Paine and Alexander Hamilton, two of the best-known fathers of the American republic, were the results of extramarital affairs. Lawrence of Arabia was the illegitimate son of a knight and his children’s nanny. Evita Person was the daughter of an adulterous relationship between two villagers in an impoverished part of Argentina.
In Hollywood, some of the famous actors have fathered children out of wedlock. For one, it is now common knowledge on how Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a child with housekeeper Mildred Baena while still married to Maria Shriver. In 2009, American model Samantha Burke and Jude Law met for the first time in a New York nightclub. That meeting ended up with a love child which was born in 2009.
Singer Tom Jones’ short-lived romance with Katherine Berkery, a model, resulted in the birth of his son Jonathan Jones-Berkery in 1987. Liv Tyler, the daughter of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, was the product of his brief romance with fashion model Bebe Buell.
And yes, three-time Oscar-winning Jack Nicholson (twice for Best Actor and another one for Best Supporting Actor) was an illegitimate child, too. “I would never want to vilify somebody who considered abortion murder,’ he once pointed out. “I was an illegitimate child myself. I may not have existed today.”
