DFA Hosts Consultation Meeting between HCCH Secretary General and Philippine HCCH Central Authorities
Photo credit to DFA-OPD James Ryan Artiaga
MANILA 21 May 2025 — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), through the Office of Treaties and Legal Affairs (OTLA) and the Office of the Consular Affairs (OCA), in coordination with the Philippine Embassy in The Hague, successfully hosted a consultation meeting between Dr. Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary-General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), and all Philippine HCCH Central Authorities.
The HCCH is an intergovernmental organization focused on developing and administering multilateral conventions and legal instruments that facilitate cross-border legal cooperation and access to justice in three main areas: (1) protection of children and family law; (2) judicial and administrative cooperation and litigation; and (3) commercial and financial law.
The Philippines became a Contracting Party to the HCCH in July 2010, but, even before becoming a member, it had already acceded to the Adoption Convention in 1996, and five others since then, including Conventions on Child Abduction (2016), Apostille (2018), Service (2020), Child Support (2022) and, most recently, the Evidence Convention, which will take effect on 5 July 2025.
The consultation meeting served as an opportunity for the PH Central Authorities to directly and informally discuss the implementation of the HCCH Conventions, in order to work towards more pro-active and broader cooperative measures to fully operationalize them.
In attendance were representatives from the Supreme Court Office of the Court Administrator, Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Authority for Child Care, and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), and the DFA’s Office of Consular Affairs and Office of Treaties and Legal Affairs. Also in attendance were two Philippine representatives to the Hague International Network of Judges: Court of Appeals Associate Justice Angelene Mary W. Quimpo-Sale, and Regional Trial Court Presiding Judge Sita Jose-Clemente; and Dean Sedfrey Candelaria of the Philippine Judicial Academy.
DFA-OCA Assistant Secretary Ma. Antonina Mendoza-Oblena, who served as facilitator, summed up the importance of the Philippines’ continued engagement with the HCCH by saying that the Conventions “have proven to be frameworks that provide not just convenience, but rather necessary services and solutions that address the very personal needs of human beings,” and are “the very concrete ways in which the Philippines delivers on its promise to promote the interests, and protect the rights of Filipinos in this globalized world.”
Secretary General Bernasconi commended the Philippine Central Authorities in their ongoing efforts to implement and operationalize the HCCH Conventions. Dr. Bernasconi expressed that the Philippines’ accession to six Conventions makes the country a leader among Southeast Asian nations, placing the Philippines in a strong position to be a force of influence in promoting universal accession to the HCCH Conventions.
In closing, DFA-OTLA, as the national organ of the Philippines to the HCCH, represented at the event by Acting Executive Director Christiansen D. Cabahug, reaffirmed its commitment to support and assist the partner agencies in the effective implementation of the HCCH instruments. END
Dr. Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary-General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH)
Photos credit to DFA-OPD James Ryan Artiaga