Section 1. The State recognizes the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation. Accordingly, it shall strengthen its solidarity and actively promote its total development.
Family - a group of person united by ties of marriage and blood.
Importance of the family to the State
- A basic social institution – although the individual is obviously the primary cell in the body politic, as he is in all other human organizations, it is the family which provides the basic unit of the State.
- The community’s first socializing agency – The family is, in fact, the community’s first socializing agency and the source of its strength and stability.
Sphere of law on family
- Internal aspect – the family is commonly known to be sacred and inaccessible even to law.
- External aspect – when third persons and the public interest are concerned that the law fixes rules regulating family relations.
Section 2. Marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the State.
Marriage - It may refer to the ceremony or act by which a man and woman become husband and wife or to the state of being married. - Marriage is both a contract and a status.
Section 3. The State shall defend:
- The right of spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions and the demands of responsible parenthood;
- The right of children to assistance, including proper care and nutrition, and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their development;
- The right of the family to a family living wage and income; and
- The right of families or family associations to participate in the planning and implementation of policies and programs that affect them.
Section 4. The family has the duty to care for its elderly members but the State may also do so through just programs of social security.
Duty to care for elderly members
- By the family – members of the same family have the duty render mutual aid, both moral and material, to each other. This is particularly imposed by the Constitution with respect to the care of its elderly members.
- By the State – Existing laws grant benefits for sickness, disability, accident, etc to individuals covered under the social security system.