Case Digest (G.R. No. L-3354)
Facts:
In the Matter of the Petition of Tan Hi, G.R. No. L-3354, January 25, 1951, the Supreme Court En Banc, Montemayor, J., writing for the Court, rendered the decision. The petitioner Tan Hi (appellee below) is a Chinese national born April 10, 1902 in Amoy, China, who arrived in the Philippines on March 1, 1918 and established residence here while making frequent return trips to China. The opposing party was the Republic of the Philippines (the Solicitor General as oppositor and appellant).At the trial level the Court of First Instance of Manila granted Tan Hi’s application for naturalization. The Solicitor General appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. The opposition argued, among other points, that the applicant lacked the good moral character required by the Naturalization Law and that he had not acted properly in his relations with the Philippine government.
The record showed that the applicant had five children by a Chinese woman; two of those children were already married and three were minors then residing in China in the custody of the applicant’s mother. The applicant stated he intended to bring those minors to the Philippines in about two years. He also asserted that the Chinese woman had died before 1941 and that he subsequently married a Filipino woman, Catalina Lua Kaberte, by whom he had four children (Lydia, Estrellita, Rogelio and Josephine). In his application and in his “Declaration of Intention” the applicant listed only the children in the Philippines and made no mention of the three minor children still in China. He likewise failed to produce a promised Philippine marriage certificate to prove his marriage to Catalina.
The trial record contained conflicting testimony: counsel amended the application to insert that two daughters were in recognized schools since 1947 and 1949, yet a witness (Hon. Prospero Sanidad) testified that the Chinese children were legitimate. The Supreme Court found th...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the applicant comply with paragraph 6 of Section 2 of the Revised Naturalization Law requiring that all minor children of school age be enrolled in Philippine public or recognized private schools where Philippine history, government and civics are taught?
- Did the applicant’s alleged lack of frankness, irregular marital status and questioned moral char...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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