4/14/2021
E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly
loss, or (12) recovery of citizenship; (13) civil interdiction; (14)
judicial determination of filiation; (15) voluntary emancipation of
a minor; and (16) changes of name.
Specific matters covered by the said provision include not only status but
also nationality. The acts, events or factual errors envisaged in Article 407 of
the New Civil Code include even those that occur after the birth of the
petitioner. However, in such cases, the entries in the certificates of live birth
will not be corrected or changed. The decision of the court granting the
petition shall be annotated in the certificates of birth and shall form part of
the civil register in the Office of the Local Civil Registrar.[65] (Underscoring
provided)
The facts here are similar to those in Co. Since the entry sought to be changed—
citizenship—was substantial, the Manila and Quezon City trial courts correctly
conducted an adversarial proceeding, notifying the local civil registrar and all parties
interested under the entry sought to be corrected are impleaded. After having complied
with the jurisdictional requirements for a petition under Rule 108 of the Rules of Court,
Winston Brian, Christopher Troy, and Jon Nicholas alleged and proved the ultimate facts
required to reflect the naturalization of their parents in their respective certificates of
live birth. They established that: (1) they are the legitimate children of Lao Kian Ben
and Chia Kong Liong, former Chinese nationals; (2) their parents are naturalized
Filipino citizens; and (3) the nationality of their parents entered in their respective
certificates of live birth remains "Chinese." The trial courts correctly granted the
Petitions of Winston Brian, Christopher Troy, and Jon Nicolas, ordering that their
decisions be annotated in their certificates of live birth.
To prohibit the annotation of events subsequent to birth in the certificate of live birth is
to deny a person the right to form his or her own identity. More than a "historical
record of the facts as they existed at the time of birth,"[66] the birth certificate is an
instrument of individuation. It contains entries that separates a person from others.[67]
We cannot fault Winston Brian, Christopher Troy, and Jon Nicholas for wanting to
change the nationality of their parents as entered in their certificates of live birth. They
only want a vital marker of their identity to align with a legal truth.
II
The Republic nevertheless contends that, before the change prayed for by Winston
Brian, Christopher Troy, and Jon Nicholas may be effected, they should first show that
they had undergone the appropriate proceeding under the Implementing Rules and
Regulations of Presidential Decree No. 836 in relation to Presidential Decree No. 923
before the Special Committee on Naturalization. The same way that their mother, Chia
Kong Liong, underwent the similar procedure. Since changing the nationality of their
parents from "Chinese" to "Filipino" would be to make it appear that Winston Brian,
Christopher Troy, and Jon Nicholas are children of Filipinos and, therefore, are Filipino
citizens themselves, they should likewise prove that they are qualified to become
naturalized Filipinos.
We disagree.
https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66236
9/20