Foundlings like Senator Grace Poe need not go to the Supreme Court to defend their citizenship as Filipinos, members of the House Committee on the Welfare of Children vowed as they appealed for the swift approval of House Bill 3472 or the Foundling Welfare Act.
The House panel unanimously approved the committee report strongly endorsing passage of the measure filed by Ang Probinsyano Partylist Rep. Ronnie L. Ong.
HB 3472 provides that all foundlings will be recognized as natural-born citizens of the Philippines “without need of perfection or any other act."
It defines a foundling as a “deserted or abandoned child or infant with unknown facts of birth and parentage.”
Foundlings committed to orphanages and charitable or government institutions including those who have undergone or are undergoing adoption proceedings shall be considered natural-born citizens.
The bill provides that having been considered natural born status, the child or infant’s citizenship will no longer be impugned in any proceedings throughout his/her life unless substantial proof of foreign parentage is shown.
Ong said Poe’s case served as among the reasons why he filed the bill.
It will be recalled that the lady senator’s bid for the presidency was temporarily jeopardized when critics accused her of being stateless, being a foundling remained unknown.
“While the Supreme Court ruled in her favor, the overall legal backdrop was not encouraging – our present and past Constitutions are textually silent on the citizenship status of foundlings,” Ong stressed in the explanatory note of his bill.
The neophyte solon pointed out that while Poe may have rightfully been benefited by the SC ruling, the fact remains that the court ruling "can be reversed anytime.”
“Senator Poe is just one of the thousands of other foundlings to date who have already suffered enough emotionally and psychologically – despite some of them thankfully ending up during the care of good adopted parents,” noted the lawmaker.
Tingog Sinirangan parytlist Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, lauded the approval of the committee report as she congratulated members of her committee for supporting the measure.
Kalinga Partylist Rep. Irene Gay Saulog moved for the approval of the measure which won unanimous support among lawmakers present during the virtual committee meeting on Monday.