Jane Marie R.

Doromal LAW 107 – Basic Legal Writing

1st Year-Bachelor of Laws ATTY. AMY V. PRADO

REACTION PAPER
on
The Panti Sisters

The Panti Sisters, a film directed by Jun Lana, is a story of three

gay sons who are called back by their estranged and terminally ill father
and given an offer which they cannot refuse: a P300 million inheritance
in exchange for each of them giving him a grandchild. The first one to
do so gets the P100 million pesos.
The main characters are Paolo Ballesteros, Christian Bables, and
Martin Del Rosario. They play the role of the three gay sons namely:
Gabriel, Daniel, and Samuel, all with surname Panti. Long before being
called, these three gay sons had loss affection from their father, Don
Emilio Y. Panti, upon discovering that they are gays.
One of my reactions to this movie was the relationship I saw
between the Panti parents and the Panti children. Under Section 7,
Article 46, Chapter 3 of The Child and Youth Welfare Code, parents
shall have the duty to always set a good example. Here, Don Emilio
and his wife, always fight (especially shouting with each other) in front
of their children, which is obviously not a good example. It also shown
in this movie that both parents have a little time and attention for the
children since both of them are always busy. Don Emilio has to hire
another person to accompany his son in playing sports in his behalf. In
Section 1, 2 and 3, Article 46 of the same Code mentioned earlier,
parents shall have the duties towards their children: (1) to give him
affection, companionship and understanding; (2) to extend to him the
benefits of moral guidance, self-discipline and religious instruction; (3)
to supervise his activities, including his recreation. In this movie, the
failure of the parents to do those duties towards their children, the bond
between them is weak. It was easy for their child to leave their family
home because they did not feel the affection, companionship,
understanding and compassion they needed from their own father.
Instead, they felt unaccepted and unwanted.
It is true in Article 45, Chapter 3 of The Child and Youth Welfare
Code, that parents have the right to discipline the child as may be
necessary for the formation of his character, and maybe require from
him obedience to just and reasonable rules, suggestions and
admonition. In the subject movie, I think Don Emilio has exercised this
right abusively. He disciplined his gay sons to act as a straight guys
because he did not want to have a reputation of having gay sons. As
stated, the clear objective of discipline is for the formation of good
character and not only for the good reputation of the parents. The Civil
Code of the Philippines states in Article 19:
 Every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the
performance of his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due, and
observe honesty and good faith.
Don Emilio must have known this law for him not to give that kind
of discipline to his children.
When Don Emilio become seriously ill, he wanted to give away his
three hundred million pesos (P300, 000,000.00) to his sons with the
following three conditions: first, that they must live together in his
house; second, that they must dress and act as a straight guy (to never
show that they are gays); and lastly, that they must give him a
grandchild. In that part of the story, it makes me understand in advance
that the transfer or disposition of inheritance – property, rights, and
obligations by the parents to their child may take effect even before the
death of the parents through donation. The donation to be made by the
father in this movie has a suspensive conditions. Suspensive condition,
according to Ballentine’s law dictionary, is a term of contract whereby
the obligation is not to take effect until the happening of a certain event.
The conditions of Don Emilio not to give the three hundred million
pesos unless the three conditions mentioned above are complied is an
example of suspensive condition.
I have also understand in this movie that the marriage of a gay and
a woman is valid here in the Philippines. Article 1 of The Family Code
of the Philippines, states:
Article 1. Marriage is a special contract of permanent union
between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with the law
for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of
the family and inviolable social institution whose nature,
consequences, and incidents are governed by law and not subject to
stipulation, except that marriage settlements may fix the property
relations during the marriage within the limits provided by this code.
In this movie, Gabriel, although gay, is a man and the one he
contracted marriage with, is a woman. Also, both of them give their
consent freely in the presence of the solemnizing officer. For those
reasons, their marriage was allowed in the Philippines.
In contrast with the kind marriage planned by Daniel and his
boyfriend, in the Philippine laws, it cannot be valid. Same sex marriage
is not yet recognized in our country. Until today, there is no law in the
Philippines, allowing the same sex marriage. Nowadays, the issue of
same sex marriage in our country is very hot and popular. Legal
experts say that this kind of case is highly significant but warn that it
could take years before the judges make a ruling. (Agencee-Press,
published 8:51pm, 19 June 2018)
In the news, our President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed support
for same sex marriage, the problem is the law must have to be change.
In the later part of the story, where the second gay son was already
dead, Don Emilio had realized his wrong doings. He slowly showed his
love and understanding to his gay children, whom at first he could not
accept. While watching towards the end of the story, it made realized
that the love of the family is much more important than any material
things found in this world. Dispute between family members must be
settled as earlier as we can. To have a rightful relationship and stability
of the social order, all family members must think of the happiness of
each other, act with justice, and give everyone his due. (Article 19 Civil
Code of the Philippines)
In conclusion, the movie “The Panti Sisters” has taught me a lot of
timely lessons. For this reason, I strongly recommend this to every one
especially to the law students.