ARTICLE XV

The Family

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:

1. 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.
2. 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:

1. Internal Aspect – the family is commonly known to be sacred and inaccessible even to law.
2. 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:

(1) The right of spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions and the demands
of responsible parenthood;

(2) 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;

(3) The right of the family to a family living wage and income; and

(4) The right of families or family associations to participate in the planning and implementation
of policies and programs that affects them.

Self-explanatory

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:

1. 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.
2. By the state – Existing laws grant benefits for sickness, disability, accident, etc. to individuals
covered under the social security system.