Philippine Consulate General in Guam caps CNMI outreach

Philippine Consul General Patrick Hilado, center, concluded his nearly weeklong consular outreach mission to the CNMI last Tuesday with a swearing-in ceremony for 23 naturalized U.S. citizens who wished to regain their Filipino citizenship. (KIMBERLY B. ESMORES)

The Philippine Consulate General in Guam concluded a nearly weeklong consular outreach mission to the CNMI last Tuesday with a swearing in ceremony for 23 naturalized U.S. citizens who wished to be dual citizens of the Philippines.

Philippine Consul General Patrick John U. Hilado concluded his weeklong consular outreach to the CNMI by administering the oath of allegiance to 23 naturalized U.S. citizens seeking to regain their Filipino citizenship.

The oath-taking ceremony was held at the Sun Palace Hotel in Susupe last Monday, a day before his departure back to Guam.

According to Hilado, Filipinos who renounce their Filipino citizenships to become U.S. citizens lose privileges in their home country like the privilege to own land or to live in the Philippines tax-free. Fortunately, these individuals are able to have the best of both worlds with dual citizenship.

“Philippine law allows former Filipino citizens to reacquire their Filipino citizenship, which makes them dual citizens. The Philippine Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003 has benefited more than 100,000 Filipinos abroad primarily from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand [who] want to be dual citizens,” said Hilado.

Hilado noted that many of these individuals are those who have spent a good chunk of their younger years working abroad and are preparing to settle down in their home country.

“Many Filipinos who have spent a number of years abroad usually want to retire back home, and or invest in property back home. You will notice that those that apply for dual citizenship have spent more than 30 years abroad,” Hilado said.

One of the oath-takers, Annamae Adaza, stated that reacquiring her citizenship would enable her to visit the Philippines for long periods of time without having to pay monthly taxes.

“For me, it’s not more on the property privileges, but for tax purposes. I want to be able to go home without thinking of paying tax every month,” she said.

As for the 22 other oath-takers, Hilado said he could not provide names for privacy reasons.

Aside from the swearing-in ceremony, Hilado said he and his team spent two days each on Saipan and Tinian to serve approximately 400 individuals who needed passport, notarial and other services.

Hilado also met with the leaders and members of Filipino community organizations at a gathering hosted by outgoing United Filipino Organization president Marcelo Masilungan during his visit.

According to Hilado, he became the new Philippine consul general to Guam in May 2021. The recently concluded visit was his first official visit to the CNMI as part of the five-day consular services on Saipan and Tinian.