The High Court's ruling was spelled out when it dismissed the petition for certiorari filed by Roberto de Guzman, who is facing charges for neglect of child punishable under Article 59 (2) and (4) of the Child and Youth Welfare Code.
De Guzman has a child with his former lover, Shirley Aberde, when both of them were still studying law at a university in Manila sometime in 1987. De Guzman and Aberde never got married.
Aberde has claimed that De Guzman had sent her money for their son's schooling only twice - the first in 1992 and the second in 1993. Then when the child fell seriously ill in 1994, de Guzman gave Aberde P7,000.
That was the last time that De Guzman gave financial support for his son. This situation prompted Aberde to file a complaint for abandonment and neglect of child before the court against her former boyfriend. The abandonment charge was dismissed by the prosecutors' office and only indicted De Guzman for neglect of child.
De Guzman manages a family-owned business and lives in Ayala Heights Subdivision in Quezon City.
He admitted that he has a child with Aberde, but denied that he neglected the child's needs and asked the Department of Justice to reconsider the filing of a criminal case against him.
The Supreme Court, however, said that there is sufficient ground to hold De Guzman for trial. - Rene U. Borromeo