Case Digest (G.R. No. 47616)
Facts:
Jose Tan Chong v. The Secretary of Labor, G.R. No. 47616; Lam Swee Sang v. The Commonwealth of the Philippines, G.R. No. 47623, September 16, 1947, the Supreme Court En Banc, Padilla, J., writing for the Court.
Petitioner in G.R. No. 47616 was Jose Tan Chong (petitioner and appellee); respondent was the Secretary of Labor (respondent and appellant). In G.R. No. 47623 the petitioner was Lam Swee Sang (petitioner and appellee) and the oppositor/respondent was the Commonwealth of the Philippines (oppositor and appellant). The Solicitor General filed motions for reconsideration in both matters.
On October 15, 1941, this Court issued two rulings: in G.R. No. 47616 it affirmed the judgment of the Court of First Instance (CFI) of Manila granting habeas corpus to Tan Chong on the ground that, being born in the Philippines of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, he was a Filipino citizen; in G.R. No. 47623 it dismissed the petition for naturalization filed in the CFI of Zamboanga on the ground that Lam, born in Sulu of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, was already a Filipino citizen and therefore did not need naturalization. On October 21, 1941 the Solicitor General moved for reconsideration in both cases, arguing that under the law in force at the applicants’ births they were not Filipino citizens.
The Solicitor General’s motions were pending when the Pacific War erupted; the records of both cases were destroyed during the liberation. The records were reconstituted pursuant to Act No. 3110 (reconstituted June 5, 1946 for G.R. No. 47616 and June 28, 1946 for G.R. No. 47623), and the Court proceeded to resolve the motions for reconsideration on the reconstituted records.
Relevant personal facts: Tan Chong was born in San Pablo, Laguna, in July 1915 to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother (lawfully married, on the record), left for China in 1925 and returned to the Philippines on January 25, 1940. Lam Swee Sang was born in Jolo, Sulu, on May 8, 1900 to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother (marriage not proved but presumed lawful); Lam filed a petition for naturalization on November 16, 1938 and had been resident in the Philippines through the time of hearing, married to a Filipino wife with three children and conversant in local languages and Spanish and English.
The Solicitor General asked the Court to reconsider predicated on the contention that the common-law principle of jus soli (citizenship by place of birth) had never been extended to the Philippines and that the applicable law at the births of both men was section 4 of the Philippine Bill (Act of July 1, 1902), as amended by the Act of March 23, 1912; consequently, persons born of ...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Under the law in force at their births, were persons born in the Philippines of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother Philippine citizens by virtue of birth (i.e., does the principle of jus soli apply to them)?
- If not citizens by birth, does Lam Swee Sang nevertheless qualify for and is entitled to naturalization under the naturalization statutes in force when he filed his petition (Act No. 2927...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)