I am British and living in Cavite. I work on a foreign ship 3 months on/3 months off. I am married to a Filipina and we have a beautiful 5 year old daughter. We have been together for 11 years now. My wife has 2 children from her ex. aged 17 and 15, and when we bought our house in 2007, 10 years ago they came to live with us. Obviously they were 5yrs and 7yrs old then.
I have raised them both as my own since the day they moved in with us. They both want to take my Surname. The eldest will be 18yrs old in December. We tried to change her surname to mine a couple of years ago but the biological father did not like the idea even though he is now with another girl and has family with her, and he has never paid even one peso towards the upbringing of his kids. When we tried there seemed to be alot of red tape for this and that - I imagine things may be a bit easier (fairer) now under the Duterte administration.
The eldest daughter has recently been having text conversations with her biological father asking him to let her change her surname to ours but he still does not like the idea, and in the last one the text asks her to ask her mother (my wife) to buy him a new tricycle.
Do we really require his consent now after so long as I have been her stepfather now and raised her for 10 years already without any support or help from the real father?
Also, she turns 18yrs old in December 2017, would it be easier for her to change her surname then as an adult, giving the circumstances?
Thankyou for any advice you can give us.