Bicam reconciles simulated birth rectification bill

MANILA, Philippines — Legal adoption of children has been made simpler and more efficient.

The bicameral conference committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives reconciled their versions of the proposed Simulated Birth Rectification Act where previous questionable parentages had occurred, a senior administration lawmaker said.

“We’re very optimistic that President Duterte will sign the bill into law and have it take effect in early 2019,” lone Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo said of the bill that would pave the way for fixing the status and filiation of children whose births were simulated.

The author of the measure explained that “simulation of birth means tampering with the birth certificate of a child to make it appear that the child was born to someone who is not his or her actual biological mother.”

Romualdo said many well-ous criminal offense.

Under the reconciled version of the bill, persons who previously simulated the birth of a child will not be criminally liable for it if the simulation was done for the best interest of the child, the child had been consistently treated by the supposed parents as their own son or daughter and the supposed parents file a petition for adoption with an application for the rectification of the simulated birth within 10 years from the time the bill becomes effective as a law.

To make the adoption and rectification proceedings simpler and less expensive, the bill allows for administrative adoption proceedings if the child has been living with the supposed parents for at least three years and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) declares the child legally available for adoption.

Romualdo said the rectification of simulated births, with a corresponding exemption from criminal liability, was previously allowed under Republic Act 8552 (Domestic Adoption Act of 1998) for a period of five years from the law’s effectivity, which ended in 2003.

“We’ve learned that very few people who have engaged in simulation availed themselves of this benefit and that simulation remains prevalent as a means to adopt children because of the tedious and costly judicial adoption proceedings,” he said.

“With the provision of a new and longer period to rectify simulated births and the introduction of simpler and inexpensive administrative adoption proceeding, well-meaning people who tampered with a child’s birth record to ‘adopt’ the child will be encouraged to finally fix the child’s status and filiation and legally establish their parent-child relationship,” he added.

In administrative adoption proceedings under the bill, a petition for adoption shall be filed with the local social welfare and development officer in the city or municipality where the child resides.