SAGALA-ESLAO v.

CA
Date: January 16, 1997
Ponente: Torres, Jr.

FACTS:

Spouses Maria Paz Cordero-Ouye and Reynaldo Eslao had two kids namely, Leslie Eslao
and Angelica Eslao. In the meantime, Leslie was entrusted to the care and custody of
Maria’s mother, while Angelica stayed with her parents at the house of Reynaldo’s mother,
Teresita Sagala-Eslao.

When Reynaldo died, Maria intended to bring Angelica with her to Pampanga but the
Teresita prevailed upon her to entrust the custody of Angelica to her, reasoning out that
her son just died and to assuage her grief therefor, she needed the company of the child.

Subsequently, Maria met and married Dr. James Manabu-Ouye, a Japanese-American,

who is an orthodontist practicing in the United States. She migrated to USA, to join her
new husband.

Maria returned to the Philippines to be reunited with her children and bring them to the
United States and informed the Teresita about her desire to take custody of Angelica and
that her present husband, Dr. Ouye, is willing to adopt Leslie and Angelica. However,
Teresita resisted averring that the child was entrusted to her when she was ten days old
and accused the petitioner of having abandoned Angelica.

ISSUE:

Whether or not Maria could be said to have abandoned Angelica and thus has renunciated
her parental authority over the latter

HELD:

When private respondent entrusted the custody of her minor child to the petitioner, what
she gave to the latter was merely temporary custody and it did not constitute
abandonment or renunciation of parental authority. For the right attached to parental
authority, being purely personal, the law allows a waiver of parental authority only in
cases of adoption, guardianship and surrender to a children’s home or an orphan
institution which do not appear in the case at bar.

When a parent entrusts the custody of a minor to another, such as a friend or godfather,
even in a document, what is given is merely temporary custody and it does not constitute
a renunciation of parental authority. Even if a definite renunciation is manifest, the law
still disallows the same.

Of considerable importance is the rule long accepted by the courts that “the right of
parents to the custody of their minor children is one of the natural rights incident to
parenthood,” a right supported by law and sound public policy. The right is an inherent
one, which is not created by the state or decisions of the courts, but derives from the
nature of the parental relationship.