Philippine Consulate registers 103 children on ‘Babies Day’

One hundred and three children of Filipino and mixed parentage went through the pre-registered Report of Birth and Philippine Passport applications on Thursday at the Philippine Consulate General in Al Qusais, Dubai.

From the press update on the second “Babies Day Consular Mission,” Consul General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates Ambrosio Brian Enciso III said that the consulate general “was able to accommodate double the number” of the daily footfall for the important legal procedures “securing the proper documentation,” concerning children born to Filipino parents overseas.

The April 9 initiative was the second to be conducted, since Feb.10, 2023, by the consular mission, responsible for the protection and welfare of all Filipinos in Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, and Fujairah. Another has been scheduled on April 30 (Thursday).

Parents are advised to pre-register over https://bit.ly/DubaiPCG-BabiesDay.

As the Philippine Government has adopted the Jus Sanguinis (by blood) Principle of Nationality – whereby a child automatically inherits the nationality of her parent/s vis-à-vis through his place of birth (Jus Soli) – and allows dual citizenship, there are four ways to Philippine citizenship – as stipulated in Section 1 of Article IV of the 1987 Philippine Constitution: “Those who are citizens of the Philippines upon the adoption of this Constitution; those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines; those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority; and those who are naturalised in accordance to law.”

On the other hand, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner which mentions in its website the Nov.20, 1989-adopted “Convention on the Rights of the Child” and the 60-year-old “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” Report of Birth is anyone’s most basic right anywhere in the world: “All people have a right to birth registration. It is a fundamental right. The fulfilment of the right to be registered at birth is closely linked to the relation of many other rights; socioeconomic rights, such as the right to health and the right to education, are at a particular risk where birth registration is not systematically carried out, and the protection of children is jeopardized.”

On Thursday, recorded as the “early bird” was also the youngest to go through the procedure.

She was 10-day-old Aurora, whose mother is Bainot Ambas from the Philippines and Qasem Salameh from Palestine.

Aside from Aurora were 11 other children of mixed parentage, while 39 were born to Filipino parents, according to the data released to Gulf Today on Friday.

“We wanted to apply for her Report of Birth and passport early so we can also apply for her UAE visa soon,” said Ambas.

Last Monday, Enciso was interviewed concerning the significance of the April 9 initiative.

He pointed out that aside from addressing the high demand for Philippine passport applications of children born to Filipino parents or to a Filipino parent, he also highlighted the relevance of the fundamental birth report before the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) of the National Economic Development Authority for policy coordination.

The seamless way to the Report of Birth appointment via the consulate general is through https://dubaipcg.dfa.gov.ph/application-for-report-of-birth. In the UAE, a foreign-born child needs to be registered under the sponsorship of his parent with a valid residence visa within 120 days to avoid fines.

One of the requirements for the child’s residence visa is his passport. For Filipino children born in the UAE, the Report of Birth is necessary to secure a Philippine passport, which may be used for the child’s registration and visa application in the UAE. On Friday, Enciso repeated his reminder for the early birth registration since the electronic Philippine passport, valid for 10 years and manufactured in the Philippines, normally gets “delivered and released in the UAE” in maximum six weeks. This schedule may get longer due to the “ongoing regional tensions” resulting from “limited airspace availability.”