GR L 29376; (July, 1982) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-29376 July 30, 1982
MARIANO WONG, et al. vs. THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES and THE ILOILO CITY LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRAR
FACTS
Mariano Wong, on his own behalf and as guardian of his minor children, filed a verified petition in the Court of First Instance of Iloilo seeking the correction of entries in the civil registry. He sought to change his nationality from “Filipino” to “Chinese” in his marriage contract and to similarly correct the nationality of the father in his children’s birth certificates. Petitioner alleged he was a Chinese citizen, as evidenced by his Alien Certificate of Registration, but that his nationality was erroneously entered as “Filipino” in these documents due to mistakes by his father during the marriage preparation and by the attending nurse during the births’ registration. He discovered these errors when securing documents for a naturalization petition. The trial court, finding the errors were committed in good faith, granted the petition.
ISSUE
Whether a petition for correction of entries under Article 412 of the Civil Code and Rule 108 of the Rules of Court is the proper remedy to change the nationality or citizenship of a person as recorded in the civil registry.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s order. The Court held that the summary procedure under Article 412 of the Civil Code, implemented by Rule 108, is limited to the correction of clerical, harmless, and innocuous errors. These are mistakes visible to the eye or obvious to the understanding, such as typographical errors in spelling names or occupations. A change in nationality or citizenship is a substantial and controversial alteration that affects a person’s civil status. Such a correction involves a contentious issue that must be adjudicated in an appropriate adversarial action where all interested parties, including the State, are duly represented. The Court, citing the established doctrine from Ty Kong Tin vs. Republic, ruled that allowing the correction of citizenship through a summary proceeding would circumvent the substantive requirements and legal scrutiny necessary for determining nationality. Therefore, the petition was improperly granted by the lower court.