Proclamation No. 72




MALACAÑAN PALACE MANILA BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES [ Proclamation No. 72, February 3, 1999 ] DECLARING THE FIRST SATURDAY OF FEBRUARY OF EVERY YEAR AS ADOPTION CONSCIOUSNESS DAY WHEREAS, Article 20 (3) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that: State Parties should in accordance with their national laws, ensure alternative care for such a child; WHEREAS, it is the policy of the state to protect and strengthen the family, and it is only proper for the state to ensure that each child be given the chance to enjoy the sense of security, formation of identity and comfort that being part of the family may bring; WHEREAS, Article 3 of PD 603 provides that: “The state upholds the right of every child to a wholesome family life that will provide him/her with love, care, understanding, guidance and counseling, and moral and material security, [and that] in cases, however, of a dependent or abandoned child, he will be provided with the nearest substitute to a home;” WHEREAS, the placement of any orphaned, abandoned or neglected child in an adoptive home will serve his/her best interest in enhancing his/her normal growth and development; WHEREAS, the Domestic Adoption Law (RA 8552) encourages domestic adoption of neglected, orphaned, or abandoned children through nationwide information and educational campaign so as to preserve the childs identity and culture in his/her native land; WHEREAS, there is a need to call public attention to ensure nationwide awareness of the growing number of orphaned, abandoned or neglected Filipino children in need of alternative wholesome family environment; WHEREAS, nationwide awareness shall ensure appreciation and thereby increase prospective couples awaiting adoption.1aшphi1 NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby declare the First Saturday of February of every year as Adoption Consciousness Day. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed. Done in the City of Manila, this 3rd day of FEB., in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and ninety nine. (Sgd.) JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA By the President: (Sgd.) RONALDO B. ZAMORA Executive Secretary The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation