The newfound foundling dilemma

IMAGINE not having your identity, not being able to register yourself in the system all your life, starting with your birth certificate and all your other IDs. And then, the problem does not end with you but gets passed down to your children and your children’s children. They will then be forced to take another person’s name and put themselves in a disadvantaged position.

This is exactly the situation of foundlings or persons with no known parents.

We see these situations in movies, babies being left at the doorstep of a church, orphanage, or in more terrible situations.

Last week, a baby was reported to have been found inside a plastic bag in the trash in Quezon province. A woman who was walking past heard faint cries coming from the trash pile and found the baby miraculously still alive. The woman, along with local officials, rescued the baby and provided medical attention.

However, the horror does not stop there because persons like this baby would now need to register with the government and have an identity.

Last year, these problems came to my knowledge when, during my stint with the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), I was tagged in a social media post by Maria Isabel Tica whose ministry with her husband Pastor James Lee Tica is helping orphans, many of them being foundlings, get a new lease on life.

We learned that there were no clear guidelines for obtaining a Certificate of Foundling particularly for adult foundlings. Adult foundlings are not covered by Republic Act 9523, an act that requires the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to declare a child “legally available for adoption” and issue child profiles. For adult foundlings, they must be recorded in the barangay or police blotter for certification purposes, an almost impossible requirement” as there is no way to be sure that the barangay or police officials who recorded the identity of the foundling will be the same ones deployed in their offices when the foundling becomes an adult.

ARTA then initiated a series of meetings with the DSWD and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) which resulted in the crafting of a new memorandum circular by the PSA which truly eased the process for registering foundlings. Memorandum Circular 2021-24, or the Guidelines in the Registration of the Certificate of Live Birth of Persons with No Known Parent/sm renamed the Certificate of Foundling into the less discriminatory Certificate of Live Birth for Persons with No Known Parent/s. It also scrapped the requirements of the affidavit of the finder stating the facts and circumstances surrounding the child and the certification of the barangay captain or police authority regarding the report made by the finder. Instead, those securing the certificate will only be required to submit four copies of the correctly and completely accomplished Certificate of Live Birth, the original or certified true copy of the social case study report, and the certificate declaring a child legally available for adoption (CDCLAA) in case the person with no known parents is subjefor adoption.

This year, Republic Act 11767, or the “Foundling Recognition and Protection Act,” and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) were also passed and signed. This new law, which aims to accord foundlings with ample rights and protection, was championed by none other than Sen. Mary Grace Poe, the country’s most renowned foundling, who was said to have been found in the holy water font of Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral in Iloilo City.

But even with all these initiatives, there still appear to be some bumps in the process.

In the second episode of “Rekta kay Atty. Belgica!” on Nov. 28, 2022, we were able to speak with Ms. Julie Anne Magleo, who has known parent/s and has been struggling to register herself in the local civil registry for nearly a year since the PSA’s MC was released. At first, there was a delay in the release of the Certificate of Live Birth for Persons with No Known Parent/s. Then, when the social worker helping Ms Julie process her documents finally accomplished the requirements and went to the local civil registry to have her registered, she was turned away from the office for their own misinterpretation of the issuance.

We have committed to assist Ms. Julie as much as we can through the show. I am happy to share that after discussions with both the PSA and the local civil registry, the confusion on the PSA’s issuance has been cleared up and the social worker helping Ms Julie will be able to proceed with processing her documents.

The bottom line is difficulties in systems and processes can make difficult lives more difficult. What is worse than identity theft of your identity being taken from you? It’s not having an identity at all. In the same way, the only thing probably worse than death is not having to exist at all.

We are hoping that government offices will work together in implementing RA 11767 and its IRR as well as the MC that was issued by the PSA because the objective of all of this is to help those who have already lived difficult lives.

Through this, we also hope that adult foundlings will no longer be lost and will now be able to find and establish their identity in society.