Poe seeks greater protection for foundlings

MANILA, Philippines - After being the subject of a petition seeking to unseat her from the Senate because she is a foundling and allegedly not a natural-born Filipino, Sen. Grace Poe wants legislation that would provide greater protection for abandoned children.

Poe said she does not want abandoned children to be considered as second-class citizens just because they were left by their biological parents.

She cited her own story – a foundling adopted by the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. and actress Susan Roces.

“So many of us came from nothing but through perseverance and hard work, made a name for ourselves as compared to others who are blessed and reared by their own parents but came out nothing. Do I give up everything just because I am a foundling?” she asked.

Poe filed Senate Bill 2892, an Act Strengthening the System of Birth Registration of Children in Need of Special Protection (CNSP).

“I am doing this no longer for myself but for the thousands of children who were abandoned, who might grow up never knowing their biological parents and whose dreams and aspirations may be limited because of their status,” she said.

SB 2892 moves to include foundlings in the list of CNSP and mandates their registration within 60 days of being in custody.

While abandoned children are included in the list of CNSP, existing issuances provide a separate registration structure for foundlings.

“This has often resulted in confusion and discrimination of the child,” Poe said. 

“It is in this wise that foundlings, as defined under Administrative Order No. 01, are sought to be embraced in the term CNSP and thus accorded the same registration process under this Act,” she said.

The CNSP currently include sexually and physically abused children; children in commercial sexual exploitation; children in conflict with the law; children involved in armed conflict; working children or victims of child labor; children in various circumstances of disability and children directly affected by HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The others include street children; children in substance abuse; mentally challenged children; abandoned children or those without primary caregivers, displaced or refugee children.

“As a vulnerable and disadvantaged group, CNSP are in greater need of the state’s protective arm. The non-registration of their births makes them more invisible to the state’s developmental radar that could otherwise include them in priority programs on health, nutrition, education and protections,” Poe said.