‘Only courts can run after negligent dads’

THE Department of Justice (DoJ) said a plan by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to send letters to fathers who FAIL TO PROVIDE fiNANCIAL SUPPORT TO THEIR minor children is beyond its mandate.

According to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, the DSWD notifying negligent fathers of possible civil and criminal consequences if financial support is not properly provided to their minor children can be compared to a demand letter.

Remulla said it can also appear as if the department is acting as a lawyer on behalf of the minors.

He added that the DSWD’s intention is good, but only the courts can legally pursue negligent fathers.

“Undoubtedly, the intention is noble; however, the act of doing so may be beyond the DSWD’s aforequoted mandate for it may already constitute providing legal service to the minor child/children,” Remulla said in his five-page legal opinion dated October 5 but was only made public on Friday, Nov. 25, 2022.

He also said the DSWD can assist minors who do not reFollowing ceive financial support in seeking legal services and referring them to concerned agencies for legal matters.

“The DSWD may very well refer these matters to the PAO (Public Attorney’s Office) or other pertinent agencies or even to some organizations and/or institutions providing legal aid, so that their cases may be acted upon,” Remulla added.

Should the DSWD write letters to negligent fathers, he said, the text should be “factual in nature without biases.”

DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo sought the legal opinion of the DoJ on whether the department can write a letter to a father indicated in a child’s birth certificate to remind him that failure to provide child support would result in corresponding civil and criminal consequences.

Last month, the DSWD partnered with the PAO to file complaints against estranged fathers.

Tulfo had said he would write to the fathers and urge them to support their children.

“After a careful study and consideration of your query, we note that the proposed act of the DSWD to write a letter to the fathers, presumably on behalf of the minor child/children, to remind them to give financial support, as ‘there are civil and criminal consequences under the law if financial support is not properly given, may be outside of the DSWD’s stated mandate, powers and functions under Executive Order 292, otherwise known as the Administrative Code of 1987, and the DSWD Citizen’s Charter of 2022,” Remulla said in his legal opinion.