MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos’ quest for a law that will accord foundlings with rights and protection has reached a milestone with the signing of its implementing rules and regulations (IRR), Sen. Grace Poe said yesterday.
Poe, who is a foundling, issued the statement at the ceremonial signing in San Juan City of the IRR of Republic Act 11767, the Foundling Recognition and Protection Act, which she co-authored.
“I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to be part of this landmark legislation. No sweeter words could ever be written. Today, we, foundlings, are no longer invisible,” Poe said.
“We achieved victory with the enactment of the law. With the IRR, we hope to see all abandoned children enjoying equal treatment and every available service due them,” she added.
Poe, who was found at a church in Iloilo as a child, was adopted by movie icons Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces.
The senator first filed the bill in 2015 to strengthen the system for registering the birth of children in need of special protection, including foundlings like herself.
In the same year, she battled questions to her citizenship as she faced a disqualification case on her presidential run. She elevated the case to the Supreme Court (SC), which ruled in her favor.
The SC said that the 1987 Constitution guarantees the basic right to equal protection of the laws.
The SC also pointed out that the Philippines is a signatory to several treaties that generally accepted principles of international law and presume foundlings as having been born of nationals of the country in which the foundling is found.
“For decades, just as I had been left alone and defenseless in that church, no laws took the cudgels on our behalf. Our legislations were silent on foundlings and they were not specifically mentioned as being natural-born Filipino citizens,” Poe said.
“The implications of this were that foundlings were stateless and could be technically deprived of protection from the State,” she explained.
With the law now in place, the senator highlighted its Section 5, stating: “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.”
Poe called on concerned agencies to implement the law fully and effectively.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, co-author and co-sponsor of the law, also attended the IRR signing ceremony.
She said that by virtue of the new law, foundlings are now given the right to access government programs and services, such as registration, facilitation of documents for adoption, education, protection, nourishment and care, among others.
Top government officials who signed the IRR gave assurance that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Authority on Child Care (NACC) shall start the enforcement of RA 11767.
Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo and NACC executive director Janella Estrada led the signing of the IRR of the new law that was signed last May 6 by then president Rodrigo Duterte.
The NACC, an attached agency of the DSWD, spearheaded the crafting of the IRR and is tasked to oversee the efficient implementation of the law that advocates for the protection and rights of children with unknown facts of birth and parentage.
The IRR institutionalizes the mechanisms and process the moment a foundling is discovered. Diligent and exhaustive efforts are required to reveal the foundling’s birth facts and parentage through an inter-agency cooperation and the use of quad-media.
“The department is ready to provide social protection services through its managed residential care facilities and regular programs to ensure that foundlings will receive the necessary alternative child care that puts premium to their best interest,” Tulfo said.
For her part, Estrada stressed that foundlings are in most need of care and protection by the society. “Let us remember the children who need our love, guidance and support. The foundlings who have been neglected, abandoned and are stateless. This is for them,” she said.
Among the major sponsors of the law who expressed support during the ceremonial signing were TINGOG partylist Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, who was represented by TINGOG Rep. Jude Acidre; Barangay Health Wellness (BHW) party-list Rep. Angelica Natasha Co and Senators Pia Cayetano and Lito Lapid. – Rainier Allan Ronda