Network for Jap-Filipino kids to hold consultation

CEBU, Philippines – The Maligaya House Citizens Network for Japanese-Filipino Children Inc. will conduct a regional consultation meeting for Cebu City in the first week of May.

All Japanese-Filipino children and their mothers living in Cebu are requested to attend.

The meeting will be sponsored by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

It aims to map out the current situation facing the Japanese-Filipino children (JFC) and their mothers, and to draft strategies for the advancement of their welfare.

Issues on legal recognition, acquisition of nationality, family register and other legal topics relevant to human rights of Japanese-Filipino children will also be discussed.

Japanese-Filipino children are those born out of marriages or relationships of Filipinos and Japanese. Most of them are born in 1980s when Filipino entertainers start migrating to Japan.

They are called “Nikkeijins,” a term used to refer to people of Japanese descent living outside Japan.

Maligaya House noted that since 1980, a great number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), mostly women, are working as performer artists in Japan. Along with this, the number of marriages and children out of their relationships had increased.

Some have preserved their relationships and were able to live together as a family. Yet some have suffered from psychological and financial neglect of their Japanese fathers.

Based in Quezon City, Maligaya House was established in the ‘80s. The network offers legal assistance, psychological intervention, training and education, research and publications, advocacy, networking, finance and administration. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/LPM (THE FREEMAN)