May parental authority and responsibility be renounced or transferred?


Parental authority and responsibility are inalienable and may not be transferred or renounced except in cases authorized by law.  The right attached to parental authority, being purely personal, the law allows a waiver of parental authority only in cases of adoption, guardianship and surrender to a children's home or an orphan institution. When a parent entrusts the custody of a minor to another, such as a friend or godfather, even in a document, what is given is merely temporary custody and it does not constitute a renunciation of parental authority. Even if a definite renunciation is manifest, the law still disallows the same. (Tonog vs Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 122906, February 7, 2002)