“‘Absentee parents” working abroad as overseas Filipino workers still have the right to exercise parental authority and even sole custody over their children.

The Supreme Court made this ruling as it granted sole custody of two minor children to their mother, an (OFW) assigned in France.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez, the SC’s Second Division, also gave the maternal grandmother provisional custody in the Philippines of the two minors.

The case involved a mother who separated from her husband in 2017 after four years of marriage. They initially agreed to share joint custody of their children, with the father providing financial support.

Later, the mother moved to France for work, leaving the children in their father’s care.

However, upon learning that the father was leaving their children with other people without her consent, she took action by placing them under their maternal grandmother’s custody. She formalized this arrangement through a notarized document naming the grandmother as their guardian.

Feeling aggrieved, the father filed a habeas corpus petition, arguing that since the mother was "absent," he should have custody of their children, who were then two and three years old.

The High Tribunal upheld lower court rulings that the father’s petition should be denied.

Also affirmed was the lower court position that the children be placed under the grandmother’s care during the absence of the OFW.

The SC said that despite the absence of the OFW, she remains a prent who has the right to exercise parental authority or custody.

The magistrates stressed that the mother may still actively involve herself in supervising the children, adding that the grandmother is a better caregiver than the father due to his habitual drinking, smoking, and history of violent behavior.

Nevertheless, the father was granted visitation rights under specific conditions.

The High Court stressed that OFWs are not automatically “absent parents”, adding that working abroad does not negate a parent’s legal rights over their children.

The Court ruled that the best interests of the child should always prevail under such condition

The SC ruled that both the mother and father should retain joint parental authority over their children. It emphasized that the parents’ separation does not automatically revoke their rights to exercise parental authority. According to the Family Code, both parents share joint parental authority to ensure the physical well-being and development of their minor children.