The Embassy assisted a Filipina in successfully asserting exclusive parental authority over her two-year old child who was wrongfully retained by the biological father. Since the parents are not married to each other, a Dutch court granted the mother’s petition for the return of the child to the Philippines, the country of habitual residence of both the mother and child.

The Embassy coordinated with the Filipina’s Dutch lawyer, a Senior Dutch Prosecutor, Immigration and Naturalization Service, the court appointed guardian, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration and the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs in arranging for the mother’s trip to Amsterdam to fetch the child after the biological father brought the child to The Netherlands and refused to return the child.

After a court litigation for over one year, the mother and child were finally reunited and able to return to the Philippines.

Assistance-to-Nationals and Legal Officer Edgar Adolfo V. Guibone saw off the mother and child at the Schiphol Airport, as witnessed by Dutch Immigration Officers.

Section 27 of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act (Republic Act No. 8048) states that “the protection of the Filipino migrant workers and the promotion of their welfare, in particular, and the protection of the dignity and fundamental rights and freedoms of the Filipino citizen abroad, in general, shall be the highest priority concerns of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Foreign Service Posts.”