4/20/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Petitioner and respondent present opposing interpretations of the phrase "from birth" contained in the above provisions. Petitioner contends that the phrase "from birth" indicates that citizenship must start at a definite point and must be continuous, constant and without interruption. The Constitution does not extend the privilege of reacquiring a natural-born citizen status to respondent, who at one time, became an alien. His loss of citizenship carried with it the concomitant loss of all the benefits, privileges and attributes of "natural-born" citizenship. When he reacquired his citizenship in 1994, he had to comply with the requirements for repatriation, thus effectively taking him out of the constitutional definition of a natural-born Filipino. For his part, respondent maintains that the phrase "from birth" refers to the innate, inherent and inborn characteristic of being a "natural-born." Since he was born to Filipino parents, he has been a natural-born Filipino from birth. His reacquisition of Philippine citizenship under Republic Act No. 2630 results in his reacquisition of his inherent characteristic of being a natural-born citizen. The state of being a natural-born citizen has been regarded, not so much in its literal sense, but more in its legal connotation. The very first natural-born Filipinos did not acquire that status at birth. They were born as Spanish subjects. In Roa vs. Collector of Customs,[2] the Supreme Court traced the grant of natural-born status from the Treaty of Paris, and the Acts of Congress of July 1, 1902 and March 23, 1912, which is a reenactment of Section 4 of the former with a proviso which reads: "Provided, That the Philippine Legislature is hereby authorized to provide by law for the acquisition of Philippine citizenship by those natives of the Philippine Islands who do not come within the foregoing provisions, the natives of other Insular possessions of the United States, and such other persons residing in the Philippine Islands who could become citizens of the United States under the laws of the United States, if residing therein." It was further held therein that under the said provision, "every person born after the 11th of April, 1899, of parents who were Spanish subjects on that date and who continued to reside in this country are at the moment of their birth ipso facto citizens of the Philippine Islands." Under the April 7, 1900 Instructions of President William McKinley to the Second Philippine Commission, considered as our first colonial charter or fundamental law, we were referred to as "people of the Islands," or "inhabitants of the Philippine Islands," or "natives of the Islands" and not as citizens, much less natural-born citizens. The first definition of "citizens of the Philippine Islands" in our law is found in Section 4 of the Philippine Bill of 1902.[3] Philippine citizenship, including the status of natural-born, was initially a loose or even non-existent qualification. As a requirement for the exercise of certain rights and privileges, it became a more strict and difficult status to achieve with the passing of the years. https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/58613 19/25