Remember Baby Sebastian? The boy, who was abandoned by his Filipina mother at the Universal Hospital Abu Dhabi shortly after delivery 11 months ago, has been flown home after the Philippine embassy managed to secure the necessary papers.
“Nakuha kami ng (mga necessary) clearances,” said Atty. Anna R. Guerra, vice consul at the embassy who also heads the mission’s Assistance to Nationals (ATN) desk.
“Nasa Pilipinas ang nanay. But, di naman sya nag-express ng interest na makuha ang bata.
She said Baby Sebastian’s mother, whose identity was withheld and was confirmed to have been staying in the Philippines, was not keen on having her child back.
“Nasa Pilipinas ang nanay,” said Guerra, “but di naman sya nag-express ng interest na makuha ang bata.” She said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was able to reach the mother.
The father, who also is Filipino, is believed to still be in the UAE.
The Filipino Times reported back in May that Baby Sebastian was fast becoming the darling of Universal Hospital where he was born, then abandoned by her mother shortly after delivery apparently because he was conceived out of wedlock.
Baby Sebastian, who turns a year old in August this year, has described by the hospital staff, as an “international child,” with a big multi-cultural family of nurses, doctors and other medical practitioners who have taken him as their own.
Baby Sebastian had his own air-conditioned room, two-shift nurses on duty to look after him, and basically the whole hospital as his playground.
According to Dr. Shabeer Nellikode, the hospital’s founder and managing director, there were eight people from his staff ready to adopt Sebastian.
“We have Filipinos, Indians, and Arabs willing to adopt him,” he said.
According to a nurse who was on duty when TFT made a visit to baby Sebastian, the nine-month-old boy, who is now well underway in his formative years, gets confused when people talk to him.
They speak to him in Tagalog, Malayalam and Arabic. The nurse amusingly shared, saying Sebastian is becoming an “international” kid.
Baby Sebastian with Vice Consul Anna R. Guerra, (second, left) and the hospital staff on the day he was discharge and flown home. (Photo grabbed with permission from Vice Consul Anna Guerra’s Facebook page.)
