Republic of the Philippines vs Chuley Lim

G.R. No. 153883 – 464 Phil. 151 – 420 SCRA 123 – Political Law – Constitutional Law – Citizenship – Electing Filipino Citizenship

Remedial Law – Special Proceedings – Rule 108; Correction of Entries – Use of Aliases

In 1999, Chuley Lim filed a petition for correction of entries in her birth certificate with the regional trial court of Lanao del Norte. Her maiden name was Chuley Yu and that’s how it appears in all her official records except that in her birth certificate where it appears as “Chuley Yo”. She said that it was misspelled. She also sought to have her citizenship corrected from Chinese to Filipino. She argued that since her Chinese father never married her Filipino mother, she is an illegitimate child who, under the Constitution, follows the citizenship of her mother. The trial court granted her petition.

The Republic of the Philippines raised the issue of citizenship because Lim’s father was a Chinese; that she acquired her father’s citizenship pursuant to the 1935 Constitution which was in place when she was born; that she never elected Filipino citizenship when she reached the age of majority (she is already 47 years old at that time).

ISSUE: Whether or not Lim’s petition should be granted.

HELD: Yes. The provision which provides the election of Filipino citizenship applies only to legitimate children. Lim’s mother never married the Chinese father of Lim hence Lim did not acquire the Chinese citizenship of her father. What she acquired is the Filipino citizenship of her mother. Therefore, she is a natural born Filipino and she does not need to perform any act to confer on her all the rights and privileges attached to Philippine citizenship.

Since Lim is an illegitimate child, why should she be allowed to use her father’s surname?

Firstly, Lim had been using the surname Yu since she was a child. To bar her at this time from using her father’s surname which she has used for four decades without any known objection from anybody, would only sow confusion. Concededly, one of the reasons allowed for changing one’s name or surname is to avoid confusion.

Secondly, Lim’s use of her father’s surname is akin to a use of an alias. Section 1 of Commonwealth Act No. 142, which regulates the use of aliases, allows a person to use a name “by which he has been known since childhood.”

May the legitimate children of Lim’s father protest Lim’s use of their father’s surname?

No. Even legitimate children cannot enjoin the illegitimate children of their father from using his surname.

Read full text.