Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Republic vs Toledano
Spouses Alvin A. Clouse and Evelyn A. Clouse who
are aliens filed a petition to adopt the minor, Solomon Joseph
Alcala. They are physically, mentally, morally, and financially
capable of adopting Solomon, a twelve (12) year old minor.
Since 1981 to 1984, then from November 2, 1989 up
to the present, Solomon Joseph Alcala was and has been
under the care and custody of private respondents. Solomon
gave his consent to the adoption. His mother, Nery Alcala, a
widow, likewise consented to the adoption due to poverty and
inability to support and educate her son. The RTC granted the
petition.
Held:
Article 335 of the Civil Code enumerates those
persons who may not adopt, and it has been shown that
petitioners-appellants herein are not among those prohibited
from adopting. Article 339 of the same code names those who
cannot be adopted, and the minor child whose adoption is
under consideration, is not one of those excluded by the law.
Article 338, on the other hand, allows the adoption of a natural
child by the natural father or mother, of other illegitimate
children by their father or mother, and of a step-child by the
step-father or stepmother. This last article is, of course,
necessary to remove all doubts that adoption is not prohibited
even in these cases where there already exist a relationship of
parent and child between them by nature. To say that adoption
should not be allowed when the adopter and the adopted are
related to each other, except in these cases enumerated in
Article 338, is to preclude adoption among relatives no matter
how far removed or in whatever degree that relationship might
be, which in our opinion is not the policy of the law. The
interest and welfare of the child to be adopted should be of
paramount consideration.
Republic vs Court of Appeals
James Hughes, a natural born citizen of the United
States of America, married Lenita Mabunay, a Filipino Citizen,
who herself was later naturalized as a citizen of that country.
The spouses jointly filed a petition with the RTC to adopt the
minor niece and nephews of Lenita, who had been living with
the couple even prior to the filing of the petition. The minors, as
well as their parents, gave consent to the adoption. The RTC
rendered a decision granting the petition.
Issue: Can the spouses adopt the minors?
Held:
While James Anthony unquestionably is not permitted
to adopt under any of the exceptional cases enumerated in
paragraph (3) of the aforequoted article, Lenita, however, can
qualify pursuant to paragraph (3)(a). Lenita may not thus adopt
alone since Article 185 requires a joint adoption by the
husband and the wife, a condition that must be read along
together with Article 184. Art 185 provides: Art. 185. Husband
and wife must jointly adopt, except in the following cases: (1)
When one spouse seeks to adopt his own illegitimate child; or
(2) When one spouse seeks to adopt the legitimate child of the
other.
As amended by Executive Order 91,
Presidential Decree No. 603, had thus made it mandatory for
both the spouses to jointly adopt when one of them was an
alien. The law was silent when both spouses were of the same
nationality.