ANDREO CALONZO, GMA NEWS November 27, 2012 4:40pm
The chairperson of the House committee on overseas workers affairs on Tuesday urged the Italian government not to implement a directive asking overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to drop their middle names.
Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said the Italian Ministry of Labor should allow OFWs to use their full names because removing their middle names will have “legal and cultural ramifications.”
“Alam naman natin na there are a lot of Filipino with the same first and last names. In fact, that is such a central concern. Baka mamaya, may kapangalan ka na criminal. You will be immediately be tagged as somebody na the government has to have some degree of vigilance on,” Bello said in an interview.
He added that he has already conveyed this concern to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) through committee hearings on the issue he held in the past weeks.
In October 2010, the Italian Ministry of Labor issued Circular No. 29 asking Filipinos living and working in Italy to omit their middle names from official documents so as not to confuse them with their first names. Italians do not use middle names.
Bello also described the Italian government’s circular as “discriminatory”
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