'Illegitimate tag on Pinoy children should be removed'

MANILA, Philippines - Labels of legitimate and illegitimate on children should be removed, a lawmaker has proposed in a bill filed at the House of Representatives.

Albay 2nd District Rep. Al Francis Bichara filed House Bill 2355 which seeks to treat legitimate and illegitimate children as co-equal.

“The bill seeks to redress a wrong and correct an injustice against millions of children who, by no fault of theirs, have been labelled by operation of law with the unsavory and odious term 'illegitimate' -- a stigma which they are suffering and will continue to suffer for the rest of their lives,” Bichara said.

Bichara cited Article 164 of the Family Code, which defines an illegitimate child as one conceived and born outside of a valid marriage or outside lawful wedlock while a legitimated child is one who was originally illegitimate but later considered legitimate by legal fiction because of the subsequent marriage of parents.

“Indeed, from the day a child is born out of wedlock, he or she automatically becomes a marginalized citizen socially and economically. More often than not, children born out of wedlock grow up under the care of a single parent, relatives, foster families or adoption homes,” he said.

He noted the child is prone to ridicule by his peers and ostracized by an unforgiving society.

“'Putok sa buho,' 'anak sa labas,' 'bastardo,' 'bastarda' are the common painful terms which our society usually attribute to children born out of wedlock,” he said.

Bichara added that aside from being marginalized as a result of this unwarranted label, children born out of marriage have limited rights and privileges especially with respect to successional rights.