Senator Grace Poe urged concerned government agencies and stakeholders to cooperate to make sure that all Filipino children’s births, particularly those of the most vulnerable, were promptly registered in order to uphold their legal rights and provide them with the benefits they are entitled to.
At the second national convention on civil registration and vital statistics held by the Philippine Statistics Authority in Pasay City, she declared, “No child should remain unregistered or deprived of the opportunity to be the best person they can be.”
With its implementing rules and regulations already in place, Republic Act 11767 or the Foundling Recognition and Protection Act, was pushed for effective implementation by Poe.
She said according to Section 5 of the law, “A foundling found in the Philippines and/or in Philippine embassies, consulates and territories abroad is presumed a natural-born Filipino citizen regardless of the status or circumstances of birth.”
“As a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a foundling is accorded with rights and protection at the moment of birth equivalent to those belonging to such class of citizens whose citizenship does not need perfection or any further act,” the law provides.
The law further stipulates that. “The natural-born status of a foundling shall not also be affected by the fact that the birth certificate was simulated or that there was absence of a legal adoption process or that there was inaction or delay in reporting, documenting or registering a foundling.”
Poe said that in order to successfully implement the law and protect the interests of vulnerable children, “concerned agencies and stakeholders must work together.”
The senator, a foundling who was raised by the late national artist Fernando Poe Jr. and actress Susan Roces, emphasized the importance of having a birth certificate even though the national ID system has not yet been fully implemented.
“In order to be eligible for certain public services and social protection, we need to establish our legal identity, civil status and family relations. While the country is still in the process of fully implementing a national identity card scheme, civil registry documents are our primary means to prove who we are,” Poe said.
She emphasized that access to health, nutrition, education, and social protection is a matter of life and death for infants, making children without birth certificates one of the most vulnerable classes of people.
According to the law, it is the National Authority for Child Care’s responsibility to submit the foundling’s registration application to the local civil registrar, who will then issue the child’s certificate of live birth.
Photo Credit: Facebook/sengracepoe
