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8 JUN 10 1’7 :l; 
FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 
1 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
~~~~1~~~ 
QY : 
S E N A T E  
,* 
S.No. 2391 
Prepared by the Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations with 
Senators Pimentel, Jr., Defensor-Santiago, and Legarda as authors thereof 
AN ACT 
REQUIRING THE CERTIFICATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT (DSWD) TO DECLARE A 
”CHILD LEGALLY AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION” AS A PREREQUISITE 
FOR ADOPTION PROCEEDINGS, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE 
CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8552, OTHERWISE 
KNOWN AS THE DOMESTIC ADOPTION ACT OF 1998, REPUBLIC ACT 
ACT OF 1995, PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 603, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS 
THE CHILD AND YOUTH WELFARE CODE, 
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
NO. 8043, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE INTER-COUNTRY ADOPTION 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
Philippines in Congress assembled. 
SECTION 1. Declaration of Policy. - It is hereby declared the policy of the 
State that alternative protection and assistance shall be afforded to every child 
who is abandoned, surrendered, or neglected. In this regard, the State shall 
extend such assistance in the most expeditious manner in the interest of full 
emotional and social development of the abandoned, surrendered, or neglected 
child. 
SECTION 2. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act, the following 
terms shall mean: 
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(1) Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the agency 
charged to implement the provisions of this Act and shall have the sole authority 
to issue the certification declaring a child legally available for adoption. 
(2) Child refers to a person below eighteen (18) years of age or over but is 
unable to fully take care of himlherself or protect himherself from abuse, 
neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination because of physical or mental 
disability or condition. 
(3) Abandoned Child refers to a child who has no proper parental care or 
guardianship, or whose parent(s) have deserted himher for a period of at least 
three (3) continuous months. 
(4) Neglected Child refers to a child whose basic needs have been 
deliberately unattended or inadequately attended within a period of three (3) 
continuous months. Neglect may occur in two (2) ways: 
(a) There is physical neglect when the child is malnourished, ill- 
clad, and without proper shelter. A child is unattended when left by himherself 
without proper provisions and/or without proper supervision. 
(b) There is emotional neglect when the child is maltreated, raped, 
seduced, exploited, overworked, or made to work under conditions not 
conducive to good health; or are made to beg in the streets or public places; or 
when children are in moral danger, or exposed to gambling, prostitution, and 
other vices. 
(5) Child Legally Available for Adoption refers to a child in whose favor a 
certification was issued by the DSWD that he/she is legally available for adoption 
after the fact of abandonment or neglect has been proven through the submission 
of pertinent documents. 
(6) Voluntarily Committed Child is one whose parent(s) or legal guardian 
knowingly and willingly relinquished parental authority to the DSWD or any 
duly accredited child-placement or child-caring agency or institution. 
(7) Child-caring agency or institution refers to a private non-profit or 
government agency duly accredited by the DSWD that provides twenty-four (24) 
hour residential care services for abandoned, neglected, or voluntarily 
committed children. 
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(8) Child-placing agency or institution refers to a private non-profit 
institution or government agency duly accredited by the DWSD to receive and 
process applicants to become foster or adoptive parents and facilitate placement 
of children eligible for foster care or adoption. 
(9) Petitioner refers to the head or executive director of a licensed or 
accredited child-caring or child-placing agency or institution managed by the 
government, local government unit, non-governmental organization, or 
provincial, city, or municipal Social Welfare Development Officer who has actual 
custody of the minor and who files a certification to declare such child legally 
available for adoption, or, if the child is under the custody of any other 
individual, the agency or institution does so with the consent of the child’s 
custodian. 
(10) Secretary refers to the Secretary of the DSWD or his duly authorized 
representative. 
SECTION 3. Petition. - The Petition shall be in the form of an affidavit, 
subscribed and sworn to before any person authorized by law to administer 
oaths. It shall contain facts necessary to establish the merits of the petition and 
shall state the circumstances surrounding the abandonment or neglect of the 
child. 
The petition shall be supported by the following documents: 
(1) Case study made by the DSWD, licensed or accredited child- 
caring or child-placement agency or institution charged with the custody of the 
child; 
(2) Proof that efforts were made to locate the parent(s) or any 
known relatives of the child. The following shall be considered sufficient: 
(a) Written certification from a radio or television station 
that the case was aired on three (3) different occasions; 
(b) Publication in one (1) newspaper of general circulation; 
(c) Police report or barangay certification from the locality 
and 
where the child was found; 
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(3) Birth certificate or foundling certificate; 
(4) Recent photograph of the child and photograph of the child 
upon abandonment or admission to the agency or institution. 
The petition shall be filed in the regional office of the DSWD where the 
child was found or abandoned. 
The Regional Director shall examine the petition and its supporting 
documents. He/she shall post the petition in conspicuous places in the locality 
where the child was found for five (5) consecutive days after helshe finds the 
petition and its supporting documents sufficient in form and substance. 
The Regional Director shall act on the same and shall render a 
recommendation not later than five (5) working days after the completion of its 
posting or publication. He/she shall transmit a copy of hisfher recommendation 
and records to the Office of the Secretary within forty-eight (48) hours from the 
date of the recommendation. 
Upon finding merit in the petition, the Secretary shall issue a certification 
declaring the child legally available for adoption within seven (7) working days 
from receipt of the recommendation. 
The decision of the Secretary shall be appealable to the regular courts 
within five (5) days from receipt of the decision by the petitioner. 
SECTION 4. Declaration of Abandonment. - The certificate declaring a 
child legally available for adoption in case of an involuntarily committed child 
under Article 141, paragraph 4(2) and Article 142 of Presidential Decree No. 603 
shall be issued by the DSWD within three (3) months following such involuntary 
commitment. 
In the case of a voluntarily committed child, the petition for restoration of 
parental authority may be filed by the parent(s) or legal guardian within three (3) 
months after the signing of the Deed of Voluntary Commitment, provided that 
the DSWD may shorten or lengthen the period in meritorious cases. 
SECTION 5. Certification. - The certification that a child is legally 
available for adoption shall be issued by the DSWD in lieu of a judicial order, 
thus making the entire process administrative in nature. 
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The certification, in cases of abandoned or neglected children, shall be, for 
all intents and purposes, the primary evidence that the child is legally available 
in a domestic adoption proceeding, as provided in Republic Act No. 8552, and in 
an inter-country adoption proceeding, as provided in Republic Act No. 8043. 
SECTION 6. Payment of Fees. - The petitioner shall pay a filing fee to be 
determined by the DSWD in accordance with existing rules and regulations. 
SECTION 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The DSWD, together 
with the Council for Welfare of Children, Inter-Country Adoption Board, two (2) 
representatives from licensed or accredited child-placing and child-caring 
agencies or institutions, and the Committees on Youth, Women, and Family 
Relations from the Senate and House of Representatives, is hereby tasked to draft 
the implementing rules and regulations of this Act within sixty (60) days 
following its complete publication. 
SECTION 8. Penalty. - The penalty of one hundred thousand pesos 
(PlO0,OOO.OO) to two hundred thousand pesos (P200,OOO.OO) shall be imposed on 
any person, institution, or agency who shall place a child for adoption without 
the certification that the child is legally available for adoption issued by the 
DSWD. Any agency or institution found violating any provision of this Act shall 
cause the revocation of its license to operate without prejudice to the criminal 
prosecution of its officers and employees. 
SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. - Sections 2(c)(iii), 3(b), (d), (e), and 8(a) of 
Republic Act No. 8552, Section 3(f) of Republic Act No. 8043, Title VII, Chapter 1, 
of Presidential Decree No. 603, and any law, presidential decree, executive order, 
letter of instruction, administrative order, rule, or regulation contrary to or 
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, modified, or 
amended accordingly. 
SECTION 10. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is held 
invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected thereby shall 
remain valid land subsisting. 
SECTION 11. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days 
following its complete publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation 
or in the Official Gazette. 
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