G.R. No. L-14653 – 117 Phil. 19 – 7 SCRA 21 – Political Law – Constitutional Law – The Judiciary; Judicial Power – Justiciable Controversy – Citizenship
Ricardo Santiago was considered an alien as evidenced by his alien certificate of registration. He averred that this is erroneous. He was born of a Filipino mother and a Chinese father here in the Philippines. He was sent to China when he was 4 years old by his dad. He returned in 1925 and in his Landing Certificate he was already labeled as a Filipino. He then filed a petition for him to be judicially declared a Filipino with cancellation of his alien certificate of registration. He was favored by the court. The Solicitor General, through the provincial fiscal, moved for reconsideration. The fiscal argued that Ricardo’s petition is a declaratory relief which is not the proper remedy to have him be declared a Filipino. The trial court granted the MR. Ricardo filed his own MR where he abandoned his prayer for judicial declaration as a Filipino, he now only seeks the cancellation of his ACR. The trial court granted Ricardo’s MR and amended the decision not stating the “declaratory statement” but rather focusing on the cancellation of the alien certificate. The fiscal appealed before the SC.
ISSUE: Whether or not the trial court is correct.
HELD: No. The SC ruled against Ricardo. Although amended, the proceeding initiated and originally prayed for is a declaratory relief to have him be declared as a Filipino. Under our laws, there can be no action or proceeding for the judicial declaration of the citizenship of an individual. Courts of justice exist for the settlement of justiciable controversies, which imply a given right, legally demandable and enforceable, an act or omission violative of said right, and a remedy, granted or sanctioned by law, for said breach of right. As an accident only of the adjudication of the rights of the parties to a controversy, the court may pass upon, and make a pronouncement relative to, their status. Otherwise, such a pronouncement is beyond judicial power.
