Consti II case digest: MO YA LIM YAO VS COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION

NATURALIZATION / DENATURALIZATION

FACTS:

This is  a case filed to enjoin the Commissioner of Immigration from causing the arrest and deportation of the petitioner herein - Lau Yuen Yueng.

Petitioner herein applied for  a passport visa to enter the Philippines as a non-immigrant. She is a Chinese residing in Kowloon, Hongking and that she desired to take a pleasure trip to the Philippines and to visit her great grand uncle for a period of one month.

When she arrived in the Philippines, Asher Y Cheng filed a bond in the amount of PHP1, 000 to undertake among others that Lau Yuen Yueng would actually depart from the Philippines on or before the expiration of her authorized period of stay in this country or within the period as in his discretion the Commissioner of Immigration or his authorized representative might properly allow.

After repeated extensions, petitioner was allowed to stay until Feb. 13, 1962. But on January 25, 1962, she contracted marriage with Moy Ya Lim Yao alias Edilberto Aguinaldo Lim an alleged Filipino Citizen.

Because of the contemplated action of the respondent to confiscate her bond and order her arrest deportation, after the expiration of her authorized stay, she brought this action for injunction with preliminary injunction.

During the hearing, it was admitted that Lao Yuen Yueng could not write either English or Tagalog. Except a few words she could not speak either English or Tagalog. She could not even name any Filipino neighbor, with a Filipino name except one, Rosa.

ISSUE:

Whether or not marriage by Lao Yuen Yueng made her ipso facto a citizen of the Philippines.

HELD:

Pertinent part of Section 15 of Commonwealth Act No 473, upon which petitioners rely, reads.

Any woman who is not or may hereafter be married to a citizen of the Philippines, and who might herself be lawfully naturalised shall be deemed a citizen of the Philippines.

Citing several cases decided by the Supreme Court, the phrase, "who might herself be lawfully naturalised," refer to a class or race who might be lawfully naturalized, and that compliance with the other conditions of the naturalization laws was not required.

Being the criterion of whether or not an alien wife "may be lawfully naturalised," what should be required is not only that she must not be disqualified under Section 4 but she must also possess the qualifications enumerated in Section 2, such as those of age, residence, good moral character, adherence to the underlying principles of the Philippine Constitution, irreproachable conduct, lucrative employment or ownership of real estate, capacity to speak and write English or Spanish and one of the principal  local languages, education of children in certain schools, etc.

In Philippine jurisprudence it was held that an alien wife is required to prove only that she may herself be lawfully naturalized, that she is not one of the disqualified persons enumerated in the Section 4 of the law, on order to establish her citizenship status as a fact.

Section 15 of the Naturalization law (Commonwealth Act 473), an alien woman marrying a Filipino, native born or naturalised, becomes ipso facto a Filipina provided she is not disqualified to be a citizen of the Philippines under Section 4 of the same law. likewise, an alien woman married to an alien who i subsequently naturalised here follows the Philippines citizenship of her husband the moment he takes his oath as Filipino citizen, provided that she does not suffer from any of the disqualifications under said Section 4.

Seciton 4 reads:

1. Person opposed to organised government or affiliate with any associations or group of persons who uphold and teach doctrines opposing all organised governments.

2. Persons defending or teaching the necessity

of propriety of violence, personal assault, or assassination for the success and predominance of their ideas.

3. Polygamists, or believers in the practice of polygamy.

4. Persons convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.

5. Persons suffering from mental alienation or incurable contagious diseases.

6. Persons who, during the period of their residence in the Philippines, have not mingled socially with the Filipinos, or who have not evinced a sincere desire to learn and embrace the customs, traditions, and ideals of the Filipinos.

7. Citizens or subjects of nations with whom the Philippines are at war, during the period of such war.

8. Citizens or subjects of  a foreign country other than United States, whose laws does not grant Filipinos the right to become naturalized citizens or subjects thereof.