Espiritu v.

CA
G.R. No. 115640 ll Mar. 15, 1995 ll Melo, J.
293 332
Nuez

or atthe time of decision3. WON the basis for

denying custody wasbiased and unfair
RULING:
Petition granted.
RATIO:

Persons and Family Relations

KEYWORDS:

Mother kissing bad man; custody

battle between married couple whoserelationship
soured
FACTS:
- Petitioner Reynaldo and private respondentTeresita
maintained a common lawrelationship while working
in the stateswhere they had a child named Rosalind.
Theyreturned to the Philippines to marry. At
thestates they had a second child namedReginald.Soon after, their relationship soured andTeresita left
for California from their home inPittsburgh.Reynaldo returned to the country and filed abigamy
case against Teresita after learningthat a marriage
was subsisting when theylived together. Teresita
soon filed a habeascorpus suit praying for custody of
the twokids below seven years old.- RTC thru Judge
Bersamin (future Justice andponente of De Castro v.
JBC) denied thepetition and awarded custody to
Reynaldo.CA, however, reversed the decision based
onArt. 213 of the Family Code.
ISSUE:
1. WON CA erred in giving custody basedsolely on
Art 213 of the FC2. WON the tender years
presumptionprevails at the time of filing the petition

1. Yes. The CA was swayed by an

abstractpresumption of law (by none other
thanSempio- Diy) rather than an appreciation of
relevant facts. Whether a child is over or
underseven, the paramount criterion must always
bethe child's interests.2. It prevails at the time of the
decision.- The children have already made their
choice tobe with their father, being over seven years
of age.- Teresita contested, saying that
thepresumption must prevail having filed thepetition
before the children were 7 yrs. old.- The Court held
that considerations involvingthe choice of the child
must be ascertained atthe time that either parent is
given custody of the child. If parent chosen suffers a
characterchange, the matter of custody can always
bereexamined. Once the choice has been made,the
burden returns to the court to investigate of the
parent chosen is unfit.3. No. The basis noted by
Judge Bersamin wasnot biased and unfair.- The
findings of Social Worker Emma Lopezand
Psychologist Macabulos were not madefor the
purpose of litigation but for travelclearance and
school purposes, respectively.They found that
Rosalind hated her momafter catching her in the act
of having anaffair with her dad's co- worker and
shesuffered emotional disturbance.- The contention
that Teresita's habit of flirting did not fall under
compelling reasonswas ruled in the negative, for her
illicit andimmoral activities had caused
emotionaldisturbances, personality conflicts
andexposure to conflicting moral values.Reynaldo,
however, has proven himself to bea fit parent, being
able to attend to the needsof the children unlike
Teresita whoabandoned the family home (to pursue
theaffair).