Moy Ya Lim Yao vs.

Commissioner of Immigration (gel)

Moy Ya Lim Yao- also known as Edilberto Aguinaldo Lim, a Filipino citizen and co-plaintiff in the case herein

Lao Yuen Yeung- a Chinese national with a non-immigrant visa (originally for one month only), married Moy
Ya just before her already extended stay expires

FACTS:

Petitioner- appellant Lao Yuen Yeung, a temporary alien visitor, whose authorized stay in the Philippines was about to expire,
claims herself to be lawfully naturalized by virtue of her marriage with co-plaintiff Moy Ya Lim Yao alias Edilberto Aguinaldo
Lim, a citizen of the Philippines. As such, she avers that the action of the Commissioner of Immigration to confiscate her bond
and order her arrest and immediate deportation (after the expiration of her authorized stay) is not proper. At this juncture,
she brought an action for injunction with preliminary injunction. At the hearing which took place one and a half years after
her arrival, it was admitted that Lau Yuen Yeung could not write either English or Tagalog. Except for a few words, she could
not speak either English or Tagalog. She could not name any Filipino neighbor, with a Filipino name except one, Rosa; and
that she did not know the names of her brothers-in-law, or sisters-in-law.

The Solicitor General expressed his opposition to the petition, citing Sec. 15 of Commonwealth Act 473 (Revised
Naturalization Law) which states that “Any woman who is now or may hereafter be married to a citizen of the Philippines, and
who might herself be lawfully naturalized shall be deemed a citizen of the Philippines.” SolGen avers that the clause ‘who
might herself be lawfully naturalized’ implies that that mere marriage of a Filipino citizen to an alien does not ipso facto
confer on the latter Philippine citizenship; and that an alien woman may be deemed a citizen of the Philippines by virtue of
her marriage to a Filipino citizen only if she possesses all the qualifications and none of the disqualifications specified in the
law, because these are the explicit requisites provided by law for an alien to be naturalized. Thus, Lao Yuen, while claiming to
be ‘not disqualified’ cannot allege that she possesses all the qualifications since she evidently lacks the requirement of length
of residence.

ISSUE: WON marriage of a Filipino citizen to an alien ipso facto confers on the latter Philippine citizenship

**ancillary issue:

WON the clause ‘who might herself be lawfully naturalized’ in Sec. 15 of CA 473 should be costrued to mean that an
alien woman may be deemed a citizen of the Philippines by virtue of her marriage to a Filipino citizen only if she possesses all
the qualifications and none of the disqualifications specified in the law

RULING:

YES. An alien woman who marries a Filipino citizen ipso facto becomes a Filipina provided she is not disqualified to be a
citizen of the Philippines under Section 4 of the Commonwealth Act 473.

‘Ipso Facto” here means that in respect of those persons enumerated in Section 15, the relationship to a citizen of the
Philippines is the operative fact which establishes the acquisition of Philippine citizenship by them. Necessarily, it also
determines the point of time at which such citizenship commences. Thus, under the second paragraph of Section 15, a minor
child of a Filipino naturalized under the law, who was born in the Philippines, becomes ipso facto a citizen of the Philippines
from the time the fact of relationship concurs with the fact of citizenship of his parent, and the time when the child became a
citizen does not depend upon the time that he is able to prove that he was born in the Philippines.

**Prior to the MOY YA ruling, the standing doctrine was that such clause must be construed to mean that an alien
woman may be deemed a citizen of the Philippines by virtue of her marriage to a Filipino citizen only if she possesses all the
qualifications AND none of the disqualifications specified in the law, PROVIDED that she is able to prove these facts in a
proper proceeding. If she is unqualified (lacks qualifications) or disqualified (possesses disqualifications), she cannot be
deemed a Filipino citizen.

MOY YA REVERSED BURCA which enunciated that mere fact of marriage does not automatically confer PH citizenship,
and that the proper proceeding in which an alien, married to a Filipino, can be herself declared a Filipino citizen, is a
citizenship (NATURALIZATION) proceeding where she must prove that she possesses all Qs and none of the DQs.