Naturalization under C.A. 473.
RA 9139
Qualifications:
[a] Not less than 21 years of age on the date of the
hearing of the petition;
[b] Resided in the Philippines for a continuous
period of not less than 10 years; may be reduced
to 5 years if he honorably held office in
Government, established a new industry or
introduced a useful invention in the Philippines,
married to a Filipino woman, been engaged as a
teacher in the Philippines (in a public or private
school not established for the exclusive instruction
of persons of a particular nationality or race) or in
any of the branches of education or industry for a
period of not less than two years, or bom in the
Philippines;
[c] Good moral character; believes in the
principles underlying the Philippine Constitution;
must have conducted himself in a proper and
irreproachable manner during the entire period of
his residence in the Philippines in his relations with
the constituted government as well as the
community in which he is living;
[d] Own real estate in the Philippines worth not
less than P5,000.00, or must have some known
lucrative trade, profession or lawful occupation;
[e] Speak and write English or Spanish and any of
the principal Philippine languages;
[f] Enrolled his minor children of school age in any
of the public or private schools recognized by the
Government where Philippine history,
government and civics are taught as part of the
school curriculum, during the entire period of
residence in the Philippines required of him prior
to the hearing of his petition for naturalization.
not be less than 18 years of age, at the time of
filing of his/her petition;
Applicant must [1] be born in the Philippines and
residing therein since birth;
be of good moral character and believes in the
underlying principles of the Constitution and must
have conducted himself/ herself in a proper and
irreproachable manner during his/her entire
period of residence in the Philippines in his
relations with the duly constituted government as
well as with the community in which he/she is
living;
have a known trade, business, profession or lawful
occupation, from which he/she derives income
sufficient for his/her support and that of his/her
family; provided that this shall not apply to
applicants who are college degree holders but are
unable to practice their profession because they
are disqualified to do so by reason of their
citizenship
be able to read, write and speak Filipino or any of
the dialects of the Philippines
have received his/her primary and secondary
education in any public school or private
educational institution duly recognized by the
Department of Education, where Philippine
history, government and civics are taught and
prescribed as part of the school curriculum and
where enrolment is not limited to any race or
nationality, provided that should he/she have
minor children of school age, he/she must have
enrolled them in similar schools;
have mingled with the Filipinos and evinced a
sincere desire to learn and embrace the customs
and traditions and ideals of the Filipino people.
b) Disqualifications:

Those [a] Opposed to organized government or affiliated with any association or group of persons who
uphold and teach doctrines opposing all organized governments;

[b] Defending or teaching the necessity or propriety of violence, personal assault or assassination for the
success or predominance of their ideas;

[c] Polygamists or believers in polygamy;

[d] Convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude;

[e] Suffering from mental alienation or incurable contagious disease;

[f] 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;

[g] Citizens or subjects of nations with whom the Philippines is at war, during the period of such war;

[h] Citizens or subjects of a foreign country whose laws do not grant Filipinos the right to become
naturalized citizens or subjects thereof.
c) Procedure:

i) Filing of declaration of intention one year prior Filing with the Special Committee on
to the filing of the petition with the Office of the Naturalization of a petition (see Sec. 5, RA 9139,
Solicitor General. The following are exempt from for contents of the petition);
filing declaration of intention:
ia) Born in the Philippines and have received
their primary and secondary education in public or
private schools recognized by the Government
and not limited to any race or nationality.
ib) Resided in the Philippines for 30 years or
more before the filing of the petition, and enrolled
his children in elementary and high schools
recognized by the Government and not limited to
any race or nationality.
ic) Widow and minor children of an alien
who has declared his intention to become a citizen
of the Philippines and dies before he is actually
naturalized.

ii) Filing of the petition, accompanied by the

affidavit of two credible persons, citizens of the
Philippines, who personally know the petitioner,
as character witnesses.

iii) Publication of the petition. Under Sec. 9,
Revised Naturalization Law, in order that there be
a valid publication, the following requisites must
concur:
(a) the petition and notice of hearing must be
published;
(b) the publication must be made once a week
for three consecutive weeks; and
(c) the publication must be in the Official
Gazette and in a newspaper of general circulation
in the province where the applicant resides. In
addition, copies of the petition and notice of
hearing must be posted in the office of the Clek of
Court or in the building where the office is located.
The same notice must also indicate, among others,
the names of the witnesses whom the petitioner
proposes to introduce at the trial.
iiia) Publication is a jurisdictional requirement.
Noncompliance is fatal for it impairs the very root
or foundation of the authority to decide the case,
regardless of whether the one to blame is the clerk
of court or the petitioner or his counsel [Gan
Publication of pertinent portions of the petition
once a week for three consecutive weeks in a
newspaper of general circulation, with copies
thereof posted in any public or conspicuous area;
copies also furnished the Department of Foreign
Affairs, Bureau of Immigration and Deportation,
the civil registrar of petitioner’s place of residence
and the National Bureau of Investigation which
shall post copies of the petition in any public or
conspicuous areas in their buildings offices and
premises, and within 30 days submit to the
Committee a report stating whether or not
petitioner has any derogatory record on file or any
such relevant and material information which
might be adverse to petitioner’s application for
citizenship; Committee shall, within 60 days from
receipt of the report of the agencies, consider and
review all information received pertaining to the
petition (if Committee receives any information
adverse to the petition, the Committee shall allow
the petitioner to answer, explain or refute the
information)
Tsitung v. Republic, 122 Phil. 805; Po Yo Bi v.
Republic, 205 SCRA 400].

iiib) This rule applies equally to the

determination of the sufficiency of the contents of
the notice of hearing and of the petition itself,
because an incomplete notice or petition, even if
published, is no publication at all. Thus, in Sy v.
Republic, 154 Phil. 673, it was held that the copy
of the petition to be posted and published should
be a textual or verbatim restatement of the
petition filed.

iiic) In the same vein, the failure to state all the

required details in the notice of hearing, like the
names of applicant’s witnesses, constitutes a fatal
defect. The publication of the affidavit of such
witnesses did not cure the omission of their names
in the notice of hearing. It is a settled rule that
naturalization laws should be rigidly enforced and
strictly construed in favour of the government and
against the applicant [Ong Chua v. Republic G R No
127240, March 27, 2000].

iv) Actual residence in the Philippines during the

entire proceedings.

v) Hearing of the petition.

vi) Promulgation of the decision.
Committee shall then approve or deny the
petition. Within 30 days from approval of the
petition, applicant shall pay to the Committee a
fee of P100,000, then take the oath of allegiance
and a certificate of naturalization shall issue.
Within 5 days after the applicant has taken his
oath of allegiance, the Bureau of Immigration shall
forward a copy of the oath to the proper local civil
registrar, and thereafter, cancel petitioner’s alien
certificate of registration

vii) Hearing after two years. At this hearing, the

applicant shall show that during the two-year
probation period, applicant has:
(i) not left the Philippines;
(ii) dedicated himself continuously to a
lawful calling or profession;
(iii) not been convicted of any offense or
violation of rules; and
 (iv) not committed an act prejudicial to
the interest of the nation or contrary
to any Government- announced
policies.

viii) Oath taking and issuance of the Certificate of

Naturalization.

Effects of naturalization: ,

i) Vests citizenship on wife if she herself may be
lawfully naturalized (as interpreted by the
Supreme Court in Moy Ya Lim Yao v.
Commissioner of Immigration, supra.).
ia) In Moy Ya Lim Yao, the Court said that the
alien wife of the naturalized Filipino need not go
through the formal process of naturalization in
order to acquire Philippine citizenship. All she has
to do is to file before the Bureau of Immigration
and Deportation a petition for the cancellation of
her Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR). At the
hearing on the petition, she does not have to
prove that she possesses all the qualifications for
naturalization; she only has to show that she does
not labor under any of the disqualifications. Upon
the grant of the petition for cancellation of the
ACR, she may then take the oath of the allegiance
to the Republic of the Philippines and thus,
become a citizen of the Philippines.
After the approval of the petition for
administrative naturalization and cancellation of
the applicant’s alien certificate of registration,
applicant’s alien lawful wife and minor children
may file a petition for cancellation of their alien
certificates of registration with the Committee,
subject to the payment of the required fees. But,
if the applicant is a married woman, the approval
of her petition for administrative naturalization
shall not benefit her alien husband, although her
minor children may still avail of the right to seek
the cancellation of their alien certificate of
registration.

ii) Minor children born in the Philippines before

the naturalization shall be considered citizens of
the Philippines.
iii) Minor child born outside the Philippines who
was residing in the Philippines at the time of
naturalization shall be considered a Filipino
citizen.
iv) Minor chi
ld born outside the Philippines before parent’s
naturalization shall be considered Filipino citizens
only during minority, unless he begins to reside
permanently in the Philippines.

v) Child born outside the Philippines after parent’s

naturalization shall be considered a Filipino,
provided that he registers as such before any
Philippine consulate within one year after
attaining majority age, and takes his oath of
allegiance