G.R. No. L-45375; April 12, 1939
THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES, appellee, vs. GLORIA BALDELLO, petitioner-appellant.

FACTS

Gloria Baldello, a Filipino citizen, married Gabino Ordorica, a Mexican national serving in the U.S. Army, in 1921. He abandoned her in 1924. In 1935, a court declared Ordorica presumptively dead. In 1936, Baldello filed a petition for naturalization to regain her Filipino citizenship, which the lower court denied. The legal issue arose because, at the time of marriage, Ordorica had forfeited his Mexican citizenship by serving in a foreign army and had not naturalized as a U.S. citizen, rendering him stateless.

ISSUE

Did Gloria Baldello lose her Philippine citizenship by marrying a stateless alien?

RULING

No. The Supreme Court held that Baldello retained her Philippine citizenship. The general rule that a wife follows the nationality of her husband presupposes the husband possesses a nationality. Since Ordorica was stateless at the time of marriage, no new citizenship was imposed upon Baldello, and thus nothing divested her of her original citizenship. This is consistent with the policy (later embodied in Commonwealth Act No. 63 ) preventing a Filipino woman from becoming stateless if the foreign husband’s laws do not allow her to acquire his nationality. Consequently, her petition for naturalization was unnecessary as she remained a Filipino citizen. The lower court’s judgment was affirmed.

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