G.R. No. L-11803; September 23, 1959
In the matter of the petition of Chan Lai to be admitted a citizen of the Philippines. CHAN LAI, petitioner and appellee, vs. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, oppositor and appellant.

FACTS

Chan Lai, a Chinese national, filed a petition for naturalization with the Court of First Instance of Manila on April 2, 1955. He immigrated to the Philippines in 1923 and had resided continuously in the country except for visits to China in 1927, 1931, 1934, and 1946. He speaks and writes English and Tagalog, is engaged in the shoe business with an annual net income of about P5,000, and claims to believe in the principles of the Philippine Constitution, to have conducted himself properly, and to have mingled socially with Filipinos. During his first visit to China, he married Yao Dian Ty, with whom he has five children all born in China: Siok Lou (1932), Kim Tong (1934), Siok Kim (1935), Eng Kong (1936), and Eng Kiong (1947). In December 1954, his wife and youngest child came to the Philippines as temporary visitors; the child was enrolled in an Anglo-Chinese School but their stay was cut short when immigration authorities ordered them to leave after a year. During the trial, they were again in the Philippines on a temporary visa. The Solicitor General moved to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction due to Chan Lai’s failure to file a declaration of intention, but the motion was denied. The lower court granted the petition for naturalization. The Republic appealed, arguing that petitioner failed to file a declaration of intention and failed to send his minor children to local schools in the Philippines.

ISSUE

Whether Chan Lai is qualified for naturalization given his non-compliance with the mandatory requirement of enrolling his minor children of school age in recognized Philippine schools during his entire period of residence.

RULING

The Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision and denied the petition for naturalization. The Court held that compliance with the children’s schooling requirement under Section 2, Sixth of the Revised Naturalization Law (Commonwealth Act No. 473) is mandatory. The law requires an applicant to enroll his minor children of school age in recognized public or private schools in the Philippines where Philippine history, government, and civics are taught, during the entire period of residence required prior to the hearing. Chan Lai had five children, four of whom always resided in China and never attended school in the Philippines. Only the youngest child received some schooling in the Philippines during a temporary visit. The Court rejected Chan Lai’s explanations that financial difficulties, the last war, and immigration authorities prevented him from bringing his family to the Philippines, noting that he could have brought them before the quota system took effect in 1940 and that his efforts (a 1956 letter) were insufficient and belated. The claim that the requirement no longer applied because the four older children were now of majority age was also rejected, as the law applies to the period when they were minors and of school age during his required residence. Non-compliance with this mandatory requirement is fatal to a naturalization petition.