ARTICLE 218

The school, its administrators and teachers, or the individual, entity or institution
engaged in child care shall have special parental authority and responsibility over the minor
child while under their supervision, instruction or custody.

CUSTODY

The phrase used in the cited article — "so long as (the students) remain in
their custody" — means the protective and supervisory custody that the school
and its heads and teachers exercise over the pupils and students for as long as
they are at attendance in the school, including recess time. There is nothing in
the law that requires that for such liability to attach, the pupil or student who
commits the tortious act must live and board in the school, as erroneously
held by the lower court, and the dicta in Mercado (as well as in Exconde) on
which it relied, must now be deemed to have been set aside by the present
decision

Authority and responsibility shall apply to all authorized activities whether inside or
outside the premises of the school, entity or instruction.

Article 219 of the Family Code,

If the person under custody is a minor, those exercising special parental

authority are principally and solidarily liable for damages caused by the acts or
omissions of the unemancipated minor while under their supervision, instruction,
or custody.10

However, for petitioner to be liable, there must be a finding that the act or
omission considered as negligent was the proximate cause of the injury caused
because the negligence must have a causal connection to the accident.11

"In order that there may be a recovery for an injury, however, it must be
shown that the ‘injury for which recovery is sought must be the legitimate
consequence of the wrong done; the connection between the negligence and the
injury must be a direct and natural sequence of events, unbroken by intervening
efficient causes.’ In other words, the negligence must be the proximate cause of the
injury. For, ‘negligence, no matter in what it consists, cannot create a right of
action unless it is the proximate cause of the injury complained of.’ And ‘the
proximate cause of an injury is that cause, which, in natural and continuous
sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produces the injury, and
without which the result would not have occurred.’"

ARTICLE 220

To demand from them respect and obedience. To impose discipline on them as maybe
required under the circumstances.

ARTICLE 233

The person exercising substitute parental authority shall have the same authority over
the person of the child as the parents.

In no case shall the school administrator, teacher or individual engaged in child care
and exercising special parental authority, inflict corporal punishment upon the child.
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

– refers to a kind of punishment or penalty imposed for an alleged or actual offense, which is
carried out or inflicted, for the purpose of discipline, training or control, by a teacher, school
administrator, an adult, or any other child who has been given or has assumed authority or
responsibility for punishment or discipline. It includes physical, humiliating or degrading
punishment, including but not limited to the following:

1. Blows such as, but not limited to, beating, kicking, hitting, slapping, or lashing, of any
part of a child’s body, with or without the use of an instrument such as, but not limited
to a cane, broom, stick, whip or belt;
2. Striking of a child’s face or head, such being declared as a “no contract zone”;

3. Pulling hair, shaking, twisting joints, cutting or piercing skin, dragging, pushing or
throwing of a child;

4. Forcing a child to perform physically painful or damaging acts such as, but not limited
to, holding a weight or weights for an extended period and kneeling on stones, salt,
pebbles or other objects;

5. Deprivation of a child’s physical needs as a form of punishment;

6. Deliberate exposure to fire, ice water, smoke, sunlight, rain, pepper, alcohol, or forcing
the child to swallow substances, dangerous chemicals, and other materials that can
cause discomfort or threaten the child’s health, safety and sense of security such as, but
not limited to insecticides, excrement or urine;

7. Tying up a child;

8. Confinement, imprisonment or depriving the liberty of a child;

9. Verbal abuse or assaults, including intimidation or threat of bodily harm, swearing or

cursing, ridiculing or denigrating the child;

10.Forcing a child to swear a sign, to undress or disrobe, or put on anything that will make
a child look or feel foolish, which belittles or humiliates the child in front of others;

11. Permanent confiscation of personal property of pupils, students or learners, except

when such pieces of property pose a danger to the child or to others, and

12. Other analogous acts.

ARTICLE 2176

Whoever by act or omission causes damage to another, there being fault or negligence,
is obliged to pay for the damage done. Such fault or negligence, if there is no pre-existing
contractual relation between the parties, is called a quasi-delict and is governed by the
provisions of this Chapter.

ARTICLE 2180

The obligation imposed by Article 2176 is demandable not only for one’s own acts or
omissions, but also for those of persons for whom one is responsible.
 The State is responsibility in like manner when it acts through a special agent; but not
when the damage has been caused by the official to whom the tasks done properly pertains, in
which case what is provided in Article 2176 shall be applicable.

Lastly, teachers or heads of establishments of arts and trades shall be liable for damages
caused by their pupils and students or apprentices, so long as they remain in their custody.

The responsibility treated of in this article shall cease when the persons herein
mentioned prove that they observed all the diligence of a good father of a family to prevent
damage.

Under Article 218 of the Family Code, the following shall have special
parental authority over a minor child while under their supervision, instruction or
custody: (1) the school, its administrators and teachers; or (2) the individual,
entity or institution engaged in child care. This special parental authority and
responsibility applies to all authorized activities, whether inside or outside the
premises of the school, entity or institution. Thus, such authority and
responsibility applies to field trips, excursions and other affairs of the pupils and
students outside the school premises whenever authorized by the school or its
teachers.9

CHILD ABUSE

(a) Refers to person below eighteen (18) years of age or those over but are unable to
fully take care of themselves or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation
or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or condition;

(b) "Child abuse" refers to the maltreatment, whether habitual or not, of the child which
includes any of the following:

1. Psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse and emotional
maltreatment;

2. Any act by deeds or words which debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and
dignity of a child as a human being;

3. Unreasonable deprivation of his basic needs for survival, such as food and shelter; or

4. Failure to immediately give medical treatment to an injured child resulting in serious

impairment of his growth and development or in his permanent incapacity or death.