OFWs laud dual citizenship bill

Filipinos in the UAE have welcomed recent moves in the Philippine Congress allowing overseas workers to retain or reacquire Filipino citizenship even if they become naturalised citizens of another country.

"It is a sign that our legislators are keeping pace with the challenges of globalisation, in which a change of citizenship is no longer construed as a wholesale change of allegiance," said I.B., a middle-aged Filipino nurse in Dubai.

"Many of those who pledge an oath of allegiance to a host country do it for convenience - otherwise they would have suffered, or continue to suffer, undue hardship or discrimination. But that does not mean discarding my roots altogether," she added. I.B. is eyeing migration to the UK "in the fullness of time."

Proposals to allow dual citizenship were separately filed in the Senate by Senator Loren Legarda (Senate Bill No. 1340) and Franklin Drilon (Senate Bill No. 1354) recently.

The bills are not only aimed to break free from the medieval concept of allegiance embedded in a pre-World War II law that defines Filipino citizenship until today, but also to encourage investments from the increasingly richer Filipinos abroad.

Investments of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) is something Manila is raring to tap for the development of the Philippines, a country of more than 70 million people.

"This is a bit of good news for us, especially for people who have retired and have money to invest. Right now it's a simple battle of choice," said Jeff Jover, a Filipino accountant at Sigma Paints in Dubai.

"I think the upside would far outweigh the downside of allowing dual citizenship - as long as it is not used for deception or for purposes of tax evasion."

He said rules must be crafted in such a way so as to set a fixed level of income tax regardless of the person's income overseas. "A dual citizen, who has income in the Philippines, must be obliged to pay taxes like everybody else," he pointed out.

Presently, Filipinos who also hold passports of other countries automatically lose their Philippine citizenship. "Former Filipinos" are allowed to own property in the Philippines but that is limited to 3,000 square metres of residential lot.

Tony Dalde, a mobile systems engineer in Abu Dhabi, said: "Dual citizenship will unlock resources for the Philippines and may even lead to a 'brain gain' after a long bout of 'brain drain' due to emigration."

"We're asking OFWs to bring home their foreigner friends to visit the country and spend their dollars there, why not bring home fellow Filipinos who have money to spare?"

Research conducted by the Centre for Immigration Studies in the U.S. found that the 89 countries allowing some form of dual citizenship or multiple citizenship have become a "large and fast-growing group."

These include the U.S., UK, Canada, France, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Australia, Egypt, New Zealand, Mexico, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Syria, Taiwan, Ireland, 14 out of 17 countries in Latin America - and even the staunchly communist Cuba and Vietnam.

"Allowing Filipinos dual citizenship should have been done long ago," said Aladin P. Matinong, a Sharjah-based design engineer working for a construction company in Jebel Ali. "The fact that they're talking about it now shows a change of mindset among our present breed of legislators."

Eric Gamboa, a graphics artist in Dubai, holds a different view. "It is not in the interest of the Philippines to allow its citizens to acquire foreign citizenship too. Dual citizenship will only benefit the rich people. The politicians are just piggy-backing on the emotionally-charged issues concerning OFWs," said Gamboa.

Taxation is seen as the most contentious issue when it's time to write the implementation rules. Senator Drilon proposes to leave that job to the Department of Foreign Affairs while the Legarda bill gives the task to the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation.

R. Teodoro, now a U.S. citizen, who originally came from Manila, pointed out that one downside of retaining one's Filipino citizenship in a 'foreign' country is the tax hounds in the Philippines.

"If you fail to fulfil your pecuniary obligations, you will not only be subject to fines, your Philippine passport cannot be renewed as well. The more you evade these tax payments, the more these liabilities accrue. It's a catch-22 situation - either you ignore your tax liabilities and forever be barred from entering your home country, or keep paying these taxes even if you no longer work there. Either way, you end up a loser," he lamented.

Ben C., a London-based Filipino who has since pledged allegiance to the British monarch had the same complaint: "At first, I thought maybe I should not declare my British citizenship when entering the Philippines and continue to use my Philippine passport. If you haven't been paying taxes for a while, it could be a lot. It is much cheaper to stop being Filipino."

Jover, however, has a different view. "Those who really want to have dual citizenship must bear its cost, which might include double taxation," he said.