The Philippines is currently determining whether to accede to the Hague Abduction Convention.

The Philippines’ Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee has created a special Subcommittee on the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.

The Chair of the Subcommittee, Senator Loren Legarda, has reported that her subcommittee supported the accession to the treaty. She said that:

-“The Convention will provide administrative and judicial avenue to parents and children affected by international parental child abduction, or those parents who need help preventing their children from being abducted from their country of habitual residence.”

-The benefit of acceding to the Convention is undeniable especially for the millions of overseas Filipino workers.

-“The country’s accession to this Convention will make a difference in resolving child custody disputes, especially in helping the left-behind parent because in the current scenario, there is almost nothing that can be done except to pursue a criminal case.”

In the last reporting period 29 cases of international child abduction from the United States to the Philippines were open in calendar year 2014 and only one case was closed during that period.