Silverio was a woman trapped in a man's body.

He was born male and his birth certificate

indicated his gender as male, and his name as Silverio Stalon. When he reached the age of 21,
he had a sex reassignment surgery in Bangkok, and, from then on, he lived as a female. On
the basis of his sex reassignment, he filed an action to have his first name changed to Shelley,
and his gender, to female. While he was following up his case with the Regional Trial Court
of Manila, he met Sharon Stan, who also filed a similar action to change her first name to
Shariff, and her gender, from female to male.

Sharon was registered as a female upon birth. While growing up, she developed male
characteristics and was diagnosed to have congenital adrenal hyperplasia ("CAH") which is
a condition where a person possesses both male and female characteristics. At puberty, tests
revealed that her ovarian structures had greatly minimized, and she had no breast or
menstrual development. Alleging that for all intents and appearances, as well as mind and
emotion, she had become a male, she prayed that her birth certificate be corrected such that
her gender should be changed from female to male, and that her first name should be
changed from Sharon to Shariff.

Silverio and Sharon fell in love and decided to marry. Realizing that their marriage will be
frowned upon in the Philippines, they travelled to Las Vegas, USA where they got married
based on the law of the place of celebration of the marriage. They, however, kept their
Philippine citizenship.

(a) Is there any legal bases for the court to approve Silverio's petition for
correction of entries in his birth certificate?

No, as held from the case of Silverio v Republic, there has yet been no enacted
legislation which confers on a person who has undergone sex reassignment the
privilege to change his name and sex to conform with his reassigned sex. Petitions
for change of names are controlled by statutes, particularly, RA 9048, which
provides the grounds for which change of first names may be allowed. Petitioner’s
basis, his sex reassignment, is not one of the grounds contemplated under the law
to warrant the change of name.

Here is a case involving a person whose preferences and orientation do not fit
neatly into the commonly recognized parameters of social convention. However,
under our present laws, there has yet been no legal remedies, provided by our
legislature for the court to approve Silverio's petition for correction of entries in
his birth certificate, using his sex reassignment as the basis for correction.

(b) Will your answer be the same in the case of Sharon's petition?

No, as held in the case of Cagandahan v. Republic, the SC ruled that where a person is
biologically or naturally intersex, the determining factor in his gender classification would
be what the individual, having reached the age of majority, with good reason thinks of
his/her sex. In the absence of a law on the matter, the Court has settled that it will not dictate
on respondent concerning a matter so innately private as one’s sexuality and lifestyle
preferences, much less on whether or not to undergo medical treatment to reverse the male
tendency due to CAH.

Sharon, in this case, has simply let nature take its course and has not taken unnatural steps
to arrest or interfere with what he was born with. He is the one who has to live with his
intersex anatomy. To him belongs the human right to the pursuit of happiness and of health.
Thus, to him should belong the primordial choice of what courses of action to take along the
path of his sexual development and maturation.