Minister Maas, give the German citizen Gerphil Flores her passport back!

The German citizen Gerphil Flores - my daughter - was born Sept 29 in 1990 in Hamburg-Altona. At the age of 4 she was brought to the Philippines without my knowledge. For more than 16 years I was searching for her without success.

Especially the German authorities did not help me in finding my daughter. Only coincidently I recognized her on Youtube in 2010, after she had become a successful musician. I met her shortly after that in Manila. After finishing her studies at the University of the Philippines she decided to apply for a German passport because she had never given up her German citizenship.

The German embassy on the other hand refused her application with the reason that she had used a Filipino passport for travelling to other countries and therefore had given up her German citizenship - despite the fact that Filipino authorities consider her a "foreigner" and a "German".

This is a breach of German basic law and a breach of her basic rights. Now the Berlin administrative court will decide in this case. The head of the German foreign office, Mr. Heiko Maas, could give a directive to hand over a German passport and to give back her German documents at anytime.

He has refused to do so as long as the court has not decided. In fact this means for Gerphil that she cannot leave the Philippines because the use of another passport would lead to the final loss of her citizenship, but actually she does not have a German passport.