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Nilayasan!

Cases about infants being abandoned by their Filipina mothers after giving birth to them at hospitals are on the rise, a top government official from Manila has disclosed.

“Medyo dumarami,” Social Welfare Undersecretary Camilo Gudmalin told The Filipino Times (TFT) in a phone interview from Abu Dhabi. “There’s an increasing trend of abandoned children or what is called, ‘love cases.’”

“Base sa interview namin, sila siguro’y may asawa sa Pilipinas, nagka-ayusan dito, nagka-anak, di pwedeng ikasal at pwedeng makulong,” said Gudmalin, undersecretary for exigent concerns.

[su_pullquote class=”b-qoute”]“Kung wala ka kasing marriage certificate, kulong ka. Kaya yung iba, di pumupunta na ospital. Sa bahay na lang nanganganak. Siyempre, may nagkakakumplikasyon. May namamatay.[/su_pullquote] led straight to the delivery room without being asked for proper identification. “‘Pag emergency na kasi, inaadmit agad, putok na panubigan, eh,” he said.

“Ang ginagawa para di makulong, after manganak sa ospital, aalis agad yung ina. Unang tumatakas yun tatay. Yun ang di maganda. Alam naman nila na ‘pag may asawa, ang ginagawa nila ay immoral; at kapag inabandon, lalo lang pinalalaki ang kasalanan,” Gudmalin added.
“A check with the UAE immigration would show that the parents have left the country,” he said.

Gudmalin said the baby usually stays in the hospital for proper care even as the embassy or consulate as well as the police are informed for documentation purposes.

Cases

Ambassador Constancio R. Vingno, Jr. expressed regrets over the abandonment cases. “Alam mo naman ang tama at mali. Magksabay nga lang kayo sa daan, may immorality issue. What more kung nabuntis ka?” he said.

“It’s not allowed. Why risk being jailed? These are the thing we should be mindful of – know the rules of the host country and abide.”
He said the embassy has one active abandonment case so far this year. “Kukuha daw ng marriage certificate ‘yung ina kasi siyempre hinahanapan ng proof of marriage; hindi na bumalik (sa ospital),” he said.

The figure is much higher in Dubai, where Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes said they have up to 10 such cases recorded from January this year alone – including children of incarcerated parents.

Numbers

There were 14 abandoned Filipino children in the UAE two years ago; last year, there were seven, according to records at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) obtained by TFT. Gudmalin said he was still updating the data.

Officials said the actual number could be higher as it does not include babies born in the flats and villas, who have been left by their mothers to friends. Isabel Sy Nillas, social welfare attaché for UAE and Qatar, confirmed this. “Yes, the mother makes arrangements with some Filipinos to take care of the child,” she said.

Cortes said a lot of the cases of abandoned children PCG were those notified by hospital authorities. “Marami ring nasa kung kani-kanino. Kung wala ka kasing marriage certificate, kulong ka. Kaya yung iba, di pumupunta na ospital. Sa bahay na lang nanganganak,” he said.

‘May namamatay’

Cortes said this is a dangerous option. “Siyempre, may nagkakakumplikasyon. May namamatay. Marami tayong cases na ganyan,” he said, without releasing actual figures.

Gudmalin, who was on the UAE leg of his Middle East trip last week for an assessment of the situation among overseas Filipinos in the region, said the embassy and the consulate usually arrange for the baby’s release from hospital care; at times, he said, “napapaki-usapan din ng Filipino community.”

Gudmalin said that as there is no way to go after the parents, the abandoned child is given up for adoption at the DSWD office in Manila after repatriation, “unless yung biological parents show up and claim the child.”
“Inaayos dito ng Philippine Consulate General (PCG) ang papeles ng bata in coordination with DSWD Manila,” Cortes said, adding that PCG shoulders the cost.

Gudmalin said “more often than not, di na magshow-up ang parents.”
“Sinusubaybayan naman nila. Kung nasa magandang kalagayan naman ang kanilang anak, pinababayaan na nila kasi mayroon silang iba pang pananagutan,” he said.

Nillas urged OF parents not interested to have their own child to “please have proper coordination with the embassy or consulate for us to follow the UAE laws and regulations.”
“We will have less problems if we start right,” she said.

Report an abandoned child to the police

So, what should you do if you happen to come across an abandoned child in your flats or villas by the care of friends? Convince them to report the matter to the police so that proper assistance can be arranged.

This according to lawyer Barney Almazar of Gulf Law who said, “It is in the best interest of the child to have his stay in the country legalized.”

More to the point, those who have abandoned children under their care can be held liable for certain UAE penal and immigration laws.
People with whom the abandoned child’s mother had left him, are actually not doing him a favor, raising him up.

“The child is being deprived,” said Almazar. “It’s the child’s right to have a nationality, to have a passport, to go to school,” he said.
Almazar said the abandoned child should be turned over to authorities because he is not registered, has no birth certificate. “Even our government can’t do anything unless the parents accept the punishment for sex outside marriage which rarely happens naman,” he said.
Complicating the matter, Almazar said is that “most of the time, those who are claiming to be foster parents are the biological parents themselves or their relatives.”

Adoption process

Isabel Sy Nillas, social welfare attaché for UAE and Qatar, said she does not condone the practice nor does she pass judgment on the erring mother. “They have their own reasons for doing so and it has to be respected,” she said.
But, she stressed, “What I need from them is their full support. If they are in the Philippines, they have to surrender themselves for DSWD.”
Why? For several reasons, Nillas said:
• For DSWD to know what really is the mother’s plan for the child.
• If she decides to give up the child for adoption, she has to sign a deed of voluntary commitment which shall be the basis to declare the child legally free for adoption.
• The mother also has to submit herself for DNA testing, the result of which shall be sent to the UAE thru the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) so that the child can be proven to be Filipino and can be repatriated to the Philippines.
• Once repatriated, the process of declaring the child legally free for adoption can start. Adoption takes place only in the Philippines.

Anak ng… ‘bang lahi!

Not only does sex outside marriage happening among Pinoys and Pinays, it turns out.
Apparently, there are cases involving Filipinas and men of other nationalities married in their home countries, who leave them in the middle of pregnancy.
“Some mothers leave the country after giving birth. The fathers are from other countries as well, who have left the UAE even before the child is born,” said lawyer Barney Almazar.
He said “usually Arabs ang mga lalaki. Europeans marry their Filipina girlfriends in their embassies or even help them get annulled or divorced.”

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