GR L 32999; (October, 1982) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-32999 October 15, 1982
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner, vs. HON. TEODULO C. TANDAYAG, as Judge of the Court of First Instance of Lanao del Norte, and CONSOLATRIX KHO SY, in her own behalf and in behalf of her minor son, EDGARDO SY TIONGSA, respondents.
FACTS
Consolatrix Kho Sy filed an amended petition for repatriation in the lower court, seeking authorization for herself and her minor son, Edgardo Sy Tiongsa, to take the oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines. She also prayed for an order directing the Bureau of Immigration to cancel their alien certificates. The lower court granted the petition, declaring both mother and son as citizens by repatriation. The Republic, through the Solicitor General, appealed, contending the lower court erred in ruling the mother was repatriated and that her minor son thereby acquired citizenship.
ISSUE
Whether the repatriation of a mother under Commonwealth Act No. 63 entitles her minor son to a declaration of Philippine citizenship.
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s order. The legal logic rests on the established doctrine from Talaroc v. Uy (92 Phil. 52). The Court found Consolatrix Kho Sy satisfactorily proved she was a natural-born Filipino citizen prior to her marriage to a Chinese national in 1947, as evidenced by her birth in Iligan City, her employment as a public school teacher, her approved backpay claim, and her status as a registered voter. Upon her husband’s death, she reacquired her Filipino citizenship through repatriation, which under the law did not require judicial proceedings but could be effected by simply taking the oath.
Applying Talaroc, the Court held that the minor son, Edgardo, derived Philippine citizenship from his mother upon her valid repatriation. In Talaroc, the Supreme Court recognized the citizenship of a child born to a Filipino mother and an alien father, especially when the individual had long exercised the privileges of citizenship. By analogy, Edgardo, who was a minor at the time of his father’s death in 1957, properly acquired citizenship through his mother’s repatriated status. The appeal was dismissed for lack of merit, as the lower court correctly applied controlling jurisprudence.