mdcol1335

What im talking about is what the Embassy and immigration has told me. I just come here to find out if any one knows any organisation that would be able to help with funds to get help from att. Only thing i have learnt from this is that the law always in favor of them mother regardless if she cares or not. So I have lots my children through no fault of my own apart from trusting people I maybe shouldn't have trusted, The only people suffering in this situation are the children. Thay is are my concern only. If i had the 250k peso if that the real amount i dont know, i would pay it even 1 million i would do it for my kids. Thats only for the att to send a letter to the grandfather to present the kids to me since he has no legal rights.

David Mashael

I really appreciate your predicament and sorry that I cannot offer any help on this for you. What I cannot understand why he would need the mothers permission to leave to UK with his children. Assuming a more normal situation where there was no conflict between the parents, are you saying that he would still need the mothers permission? How would this be normally granted? Will immigration stop him at the airport of departure? Just trying to understand the situation better.

mdcol1335

David thanks, the mother and i have only separated, living apart we have never been to court not one of use have got custody of the kids. there is NO court order saying the mother has full custody or the grandfather has not got full custody. I have been told that i can go to house of the grandfather and take my kids as i am the legal guardian since the mother is no longer in the philippines. The problem is i have had death threat from the family if i attempt to do this. most of the family of my wife are dswd workers, her cousin is the mayor of the town and her uncle is in the police.

David Mashael

That sounds like a pretty one sided and impossible situation to deal with but what I am trying to understand is why you as the father cannot legally visit UK as a normal father might take his children there to visit or holiday.

BritInParis

Any attempt to remove the children from the Philippines without the permission of the mother or a court order is international child abduction. I'm not sure how I can phrase this differently. Whilst I sympathise with the OP's predicament complaining about the perceived unjustness of the situation won't make any difference to the legal position.

SanDiegogirl

250K Philippine pesos is the equivalent of around 3,600 GBP.

Can't your family (the children's grandparents) raise this amount?

Are YOU destitute too?

The following website might help:

https://www.gofundme.com/

mdcol1335

Thank your for the website SanDiegogirl. MY wife and her father have been using the children for financial gain for year now, for example telling my parents that the kids are in hospital please send x amount of money, when actually there not in hospital, they use the money to buy pigs or fix the house. my parents the children grandparents have used all their saving and now only have my fathers salary to support themselves. I have used my savings and now im here stuck in the Philippines with no money for flight back to UK. I think it would any be abduction if i didn't tell the mother that i was getting my children, and she didint know where they were. I would be telling her what im planning and providing an address where they would be staying. If anyone has abducted the children she as by taking them from me without my knowing, only to find out by neighbors of her father.

quiltman

As always, BIP is spot on! Many airlines and immigration officials are suspicious of a single parent arriving with just the children and ask for written proof from the parent presenting - in this case the father- that the other parent knows the children are travelling with the other parent. I'm afraid that's todays reality. tough maybe, but done for the right reasons - protection of the children from abduction.

Pulaski

Similar questions come up frequently on BE, and the answer is always the same - one parent cannot remove their children from the country in which they usually live without either the permission of the other parent, or a court order, which can be very hard to get. That is the issue in a nutshell, and there is NO way around this problem that you face.

Even if you can get your children handed over to you, there is no way to legally remove them from the Philippines without your wife's permission or a court order, and if you were to remove them it would be quite easy for her to get the children removed from you in the UK and returned to the Philippines and you wouldn't have a leg to stand on because Britain is a signatory to the international treaty on child abduction.

quiltman

mikemike

'one parent cannot remove their children from the country in which they usually live'

Can you prove that the country they usually live in is in the UK.? this may make a difference, equally it may not.

Should you have issues that can prove the children are kidnapped and held for ransom which is in effect what you are suggesting. Then you do not use the police services you use the NBI in Manila. Should you be able to prove what you are claiming. I am surprised that the UK embassy will not assist to recover three minors from such an ordeal.

As for funding you will have to meet that challenge. How are you funding yourself here in the Philippines?

mdcol1335

Yes i can prove they usually live in the UK, The grandfather here is holding the children, and their passports, he is refusing to meet me in order to renew visa, or for me to see my kids, i have received a parental assessment done by independent social worker. and the embassy have actually visited my kids in the grandfather house. The embassy has told me the conditions there living, but they cant give me legal help or advice only told me to seek attorney. I have their birth certificates, i Have nursery schedules from UK with date they were due back in UK to go to school. The children have registered DR in the UK. I have child benefit number in UK and tax credits which i may add i stopped when we left and to be started again once be return to the UK as we planned before. We as a family was only coming to philippines for 3 weeks vacation and now we have been here 15 months. I have been funding myself, I even took work as a call center agent to make a little bit of money which gave me a working visa to stay here and fight for my kids. This was my kids first visit to the Philippines. The embassy are unable to assist me they only direct me to seeking attorney. The have contact my family back home to see if they can give me fund for this situation by my family and friend and used all they had. It makes it harder cos the kids are not in Manila they in Visayas area.

mikemike

If I was in your position I would be at the Immigration bureau in Manila, NBI and the offices of the Star news paper. I would be doing everything and anything to ensure that no one was in any doubt that my children were at the mercy of a kidnap for ransom gang.

Working for a call center you will be earning over 32,000 pesos a month, enough to cover the costs of funding the above.

I hope you do not mind my saying that they way you present your written communication reminds me of a Filipino writing English as a second language. I say that, as working in a call center here I see this all the time.

The UK embassy has on its information wall contacts for attorneys, which one have you tried?

steve18

it all sounds like a huge scam to me. so your wife tells your parents that the kids are in hospital and they send her money without checking with you on their health first. your wifes family members include a mayor and a serving police officer ? ^snip^

mdcol1335

Im doing everything I can im located north of manila my salary 15,000 pesos a month just enough to afford my rent and food. The att cos 250k. My writing is like this cos im rushing what im saying, sometimes in anger and frustration. Being here for the amount of time i have i also have lost my accent and now sound like Filipino. I have contacted most of the attorneys give to me by the embassy. They all advised me to find a local attorney to where the children are located which i have done and the cheapest and the one who is willing to work for me has told me the amount i have mentioned, i dont know if this is because im a foreigner or not, from experience i guess it is the reason. I cant always travel to manila since i have work and if i dont work i wont have any money or a visa to stay in the Philippines. If i go to manila i finish work at 5am and go to bus terminal sleeping on the bus, go to embassy then back home again, its 7 hour trip to manila from where i live.