The House of Representatives on Monday approved on second reading House Bill 7679, or the proposed “Foundling Welfare Act,” to uphold the best interest of Filipino children amid the pandemic.
The bill, principally authored by Rep. Ronnie Ong of Ang Probinsyano, seeks to promote the rights of foundlings, or abandoned children, with unknown parents. House Bill 7679 also declares foundlings as natural-born citizens of the Philippines, as well as penalize acts inimical to their welfare.
The bill states foundlings would be entitled to all available government programs and services. Any individual found to be filing a malicious complaint for the purpose of harassing, persecuting, or injuring a foundling, would be penalized with a P1 million to P5 million fine and imprisonment of three months to two years.
House Committee on the Welfare of Children and Tingog Party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, sponsor of the bill, said the bill seeks to promote and protect the rights of abandoned children.
The lawmaker added the filing of the bill was an offshoot of the absence of a legal framework that fully recognizes foundlings as bonafide Filipino citizens.
She said a foundling has to cope with the harsh reality of being abandoned by his/her family.
Moreover, Ong underscored the importance of the passage of the bill as the present laws require children whose parentage are unknown to present physical proof of blood relation to a Filipino parent before he or she is considered to be a natural-born citizen.
These legal barriers, Ong said, places foundlings at a disadvantageous position and tremendously disenfranchises them as the failure of the child to fulfill the legal requirements obliged by the law is tantamount to the denial of their full rights bestowed upon all Filipino children.
Under the proposed law, foundlings shall be recognized as natural-born citizens of the Philippines, without need of perfection or any further act, and shall automatically be accorded such rights and protection as those belonging to such class of citizens. These include foundlings who are committed to orphanage and charitable or government institutions, or those who have undergone, or are undergoing adoption proceedings.
The measure provides that such natural-born status of the child, or infant, shall not be impugned in any proceeding all the days of his or her life unless substantial proof of foreign parentage is shown. Such status shall not also be affected by the fact that the birth certificate of the child is simulated, or that there was an absence of a legal adoption process, it said.
The bill tasks the Department of Social Welfare and Development or any of its duly licensed institutions or nongovernment organizations to conduct a proactive and diligent search and inquiry into the facts of birth and parentage of the child, or infant, within 15 days after commitment, or submission of foundling report by the finder, or other concerned person, unless more time is needed in view of significant developments.