Drilon to DFA: Stop collecting ‘allegiance fees’

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) should stop collecting “allegiance fees” from Filipinos who want to re-acquire their Philippine citizenship, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said on Thursday.

Drilon said he made the same call during his meeting with the Filipino community in Spain on October 29, when the issue involving the collection of the fees amounting to around 45 euros (P2,700) was raised. 

“The DFA is not an income-generating institution. It exists for the service of Filipino citizens abroad… The DFA should immediately stop the collection of the allegiance fee from Filipinos in various parts of the worlds,” Drilon said in a statement.

“It would not help us to convince our fellow Filipinos, who have lost their Filipino citizenship, if we continue to burden them with heavy fees,” he added.

Drilon is a former secretary of justice and a former chairman of the Senate Commitee on Finance.

Under Republic Act 9225 or the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003, natural-born Filipinos who lost their Filipino citizenship through naturalization in a foreign country may re-acquire Philippine citizenship by taking the Philippine Oath of Allegiance before a duly authorized Philippine official.

The oath does not require a person to renounce his allegiance to any other country, Drilon said.

Drilon said “bureaucratic requirements have discouraged a greater number of Filipinos from availing of the benefits under the law.” —NB, GMA News