The Middle Name

Good evening, fellow forum members. Knowing many of you have families in the Philippines, I thought I'd cast a line and fish here for some answers to a recent odd occurrence. I went to the Philippines Embassy here in Kuwait to register my daughter's birth abroad.

I recently registered her birth aboard at the US Embassy and applied for her US passport, but this did little to prepare me for my encounter at the Philippines embassy. They wanted 4 copies of everything, had a pre filled out form we had to use with "Filipino" filled out as the father's nationality, and we had to do it outside the embassy, seated in a plastic chair situated at a fold up card table. This seemed pretty normal for how the government works from prior experience. The interesting part came after the forms were reviewed for correctness.

For our daughter's middle name, we put Gabrielle, as that is the name we gave her, which is on her Kuwait Birth Certificate, Kuwait Civil ID, US CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Aboard), and US passport. We were told that was not her middle name, that it needed to be her mother's maiden name. Initially, when pressed, the lady involved said it was tradition. After pointing out how it was documented on 4 official documents, she said, "It is the law. Her name has to be her mother's maiden name."

After telling her we wouldn't be registering her with a name different from her other official documents, she said the Vice Consul would not sign it because it wasn't in accordance with the law. I asked to speak to the Vice Consul.

The lady led me upstairs and had me sit in a chair around the corner from the Vice Consul's office and went inside. The Vice Consul proceeded to scream at her in English that it was the law and that it didn't matter what I thought. He told her he didn't want to speak to me and would have me thrown from the embassy if I didn't like it.

At this point I stood up and looked into his office to see if this was a charade for Tik Tok and it wasn't. He was visibly upset without having exchanged any conversation with me. I asked him what law and was told he didn't have to show me the law, that there was no argument. I told him I agreed there was no argument. He then proceeded to review my documents.

He told the lady that was there he would sign them as the staff had prepared them and I told him, "Oh no sir, no need at all. I felt I was doing the right thing to report her birth here, but clearly I was mistaken." He then told me it was the law again and that I could "google it" if I wanted to. I asked him what law I should be looking for any he said the Civil Code of the Philippines or some law from 1987.

We left the embassy without reporting my daughter's birth abroad and I did my research. As it turns out, it is NOT the law. I've provided links to the relevant laws below. Have any of you ever encountered this and how did you resolve it? From what I've heard, many people leave the embassy with their kids having new names based on being told it was the law.

https://www.chanrobles.com/executiveorderno209.htm
https://www.chanrobles.com/civilcodeofthephilippinesfulltext.html

 

The maiden name of my granddaughters mother does not appear in her birth certificate.
Sounds like the Embassy in Kuwait is out of touch.

 

Typically, your filipino bureaucrats have gotten mixed up about what they inherited from their colonizers. First of all, "middle name" is an English-language label. The Spanish-style uses two family names. And secondly, the first family name, or "middle name" is typically the father's first surname (apellido paterno); contrary to what your were told, the mother's first surname (apellido materno) comes second, with "and" (Sp. y) between them. Or maybe the filipinos are trying to confuse their former occupiers.

 

My son's middle name is his mum's maiden name. Wasn't given a choice here in Dumaguete.

 

How was this choice denied to you? Or just no one asked you and now it is on the birth certificate?

 

Instead of trying to register a birth abroad, maybe you could try and and apply for Philippine Citizenship.
Mom is a Filipina so your child is entitled to a passport.
My guess is the embassy can not contest your child's name.

 

When we applied for my wife's PH driving license we had fun because we married in Europe and she kept her maiden name instead of taking mine.

The backward and generally useless LTO in Dumaguete refused to document her as married using her maiden name (they said "the system wouldn't do it"), and we certainly weren't going to let them change her surname, so they documented her as single...

So, I guess the upshot is that whenever my wife is behind the wheel, she's a single lady, so all you eligible young men, watch out...

 

This might be off topic as it does not concern names but it is about how rules are interpreted, when i wanted to convert my foreign driving license the woman who checks the paperwork told me i have to have been in the country between 6 - 9 months before i can do that, i said where does it say that on the LTO website ? all it says is that after 90 days you must convert to a Philippine license, i never really got an answer to that but was repeatedly told that was the rule in a louder and louder voice until the security guard started looking nervous which sometimes goes with itchy trigger finger syndrome.
I tried to reason with her by asking if that means after 90 days i have to stop driving until another 3 months passes, that does not make sense, again no real answer so after realising i was up against a brick wall i gave up and complied with HER rule.