“Deserter-Fathers” of Amerasian Kids Can Be “DNA-tested”

by Bobby Reyes

“DNA Lab” | Photo by UMSEAS via Flickr/Creative Commons

Part VII of the “Filipino Melting Pot” Series

Of course, nearly everybody has heard of “DNA.” It is the abbreviation for “Deoxyribonucleic acid” — one of two types of molecules that encode genetic information.

It will be easy for the alleged descendants of a famous American general and other commissioned (and even non-commissioned) officers to obtain DNA tests if they can bring paternity suits in U.S. courts of justice. Why? If alleged descendants of an American Commander-in-Chief had been able to secure DNA tests, what more of the men (and women) in the U.S. Armed Forces uniforms?

The American Fourth Estate published the results of DNA tests on former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. Here is one report from the New York Times. “DNA tests” on the descendants of Thomas Jefferson’s family and of Jefferson’s young slave, Sally Hemings, offer compelling evidence that the nation’s third President fathered at least one of her children, according to an article in the scientific journal Nature.

“The report is based on blood samples collected by Eugene A. Foster of Charlottesville, VA., a retired Tufts University professor of pathology. The finding undercuts historians’ position that Jefferson did not have a liaison with the slave some 28 years his junior, as had been speculated. And it confirms, but with a surprising twist, the oral tradition that has been handed down among Sally Hemings’s descendants.”

” … it will not require an act of the U.S. Congress to authorize the said DNA tests. It may not even be necessary for the abandoned descendants to avail of the civil-law procedure or system. The U.S. President, as the Commander-in-Chief, has the legal right to authorize the said taking the DNA tests.”

And in my personal opinion, it will not require an act of the U.S. Congress to authorize the said DNA tests. It may not even be necessary for the abandoned descendants to avail of the civil-law procedure or system. The U.S. President, as the Commander-in-Chief, has the legal right to authorize the said taking the DNA tests. No matter how long in the past, the liaison between an American officer (and presumed gentleman) took place that resulted in the descendants’ birth and their offspring (so many generations added). These descendants have forced heirs to fame and the fortune of the said American ancestor.

On immigration law, if DNA tests can reveal true paternity, then the heirs would have had the right to demand American citizenship. All bets are off the number of descendants that could prove children (or grandchildren to X-number of generations) of American service members. (The descendants of partly-Filipino or foreign descent of career bureaucrats of the U.S. civil service that also had relationships with native women of the Philippines — or any other country for that matter — may join the list of people needing the DNA tests). The liability of the U.S. government could run into billions of greenbacks — if the estate of the proven U.S. employee is insolvent. The illegal acts of a public employee can result in the employer’s damages, the government. It is a recognized legal maxim in almost-all civilized countries.

“On immigration law, if DNA tests can reveal true paternity, then the heirs would have had the right to demand American citizenship. All bets are off the number of descendants that could prove children (or grandchildren to X-number of generations) of American service members.”

On the question of jurisprudence in the United States, I leave it to my “neighbor” in the Philippine Daily Mirror, my fellow columnist Cristina Godinez, Esq., to explain. She can also ask her peers in the Philippine Bar Association of the U.S. to form a Task Force to provide sound advice or legal representation. Even if the Filipino-American lawyers accept remuneration on a contingency basis, the awards can run into billions of U.S. dollars. I am merely an undergraduate of the Ateneo de Manila College of Law. Even if I reached the fourth-year law, I could not give legal opinions.

In the next column, I will discuss what happened to many of the Buffalo soldiers. As you will recall, they got married to Filipino brides in the 1900s. I purposely reserved it for the Buffalo-soldier grooms. And know what? Their living descendants also need DNA tests.

You may also like

1 comment

brian hjort April 9, 2021 - 3:53 pm

Hi Bobby

I am Brian Hjort, interesting article about dna test. I am current do dna test on amerasians in the Philipines, I am recive test kits from myheritage dna test and my dream are to test 10 000 amerasians and find their fathers.

If you wanna know more, then feel free to contact me

Brian Hjort

Reply

Leave a Reply to brian hjort Cancel Reply