RULE 103 RULE 108 RA 9048

Title Change of name (name Cancellation or Correct a clerical or typographical

which appears in the civil
register)
Nature   Adversarial;   
  judicial;   
  substantial change   
  in rem – to vest
jurisdiction, comply with
all the requirements
  not a matter of right but of
judicial discretion and a
privilege
correction of error in an entry and/or change of
entries in the first name or nickname
civil registry
Adversarial;   Summary;
judicial   administrative; No judicial order
Substantial error necessary
  Clerical/typographical error; change
of first name or nickname -
changes or corrections of a
harmless and innocuous nature

Petitioner All natural persons Any person Any person having direct and
regardless of status, interested in any personal interest in the correction
including domiciled aliens act, event, order of a clerical or typographical error
or decree
concerning the
civil status of
persons which
has been
recorded in the
civil register
Parties a)       the civil The city/municipal civil registrar,
registrar and Consul General, including the Clerk
b)       all persons of the Shari'a Court in his capacity
who have or as District or Circuit Registrar of
claim any Muslim Marriages, Divorces,
interest which Revocations of Divorces and
would be Conversions, are hereby
affected thereby authorized to correct clerical or
shall be made typographical error and to change
parties to the first name or nickname in the civil
proceeding. register.
Subject ü   First name, entries in the             clerical or typographical errors
matter ü   nickname, civil register and
ü   middle name, may be cancelled           change of first name or
ü   surname or corrected: nickname
a)       births;
b)       marriage;
c)        deaths;
 d)       legal
separations;
e)       judgments of
annulments of
marriage;
f)        judgments
declaring
marriages void
from the
beginning;
g)       legitimations;
h)       adoptions;
i)        acknowledgm
ents of natural
children;
j)         naturalization
;
k)       election, loss
or recovery of
citizenship;
l)        civil
interdiction;
m)     judicial
determination of
filiation;
n)       voluntary
emancipation of
a minor; and
o)       changes of
name.

Venue 1)        RTC of the province in
which he resides, or,
2)       in the City of Manila, to
the Juvenile and Domestic
Relations Court.
RTC of the 1)        with the local civil registry
province where office of the city or municipality
the where the record being sought to
corresponding be corrected or changed is kept.
civil registry is
located. 2)       In case the petitioner has
already migrated to another place
in the country - the petition may be
filed, in person, with the local civil
registrar of the place where the
interested party is presently
residing or domiciled.

3)       Citizens of the Philippines who

are presently residing or domiciled
 in foreign countries may file their
petition, in person, with the
nearest Philippine Consulates.

Contents ofa)       That the petitioner has The affidavit shall set forth
Petition or been a bona fide resident                facts necessary to establish
affidavit of the province where the the merits of the petition and
petition is filed for at least               shall show affirmatively that
3 years prior to the date the petitioner is competent to
of such filing; testify to the matters stated.
b)       The cause for which the              The petitioner shall state the
change of the petitioner's particular erroneous entry or
name is sought; entries, which are sought to be
c)        The name asked for. corrected and/or the change
sought to be made.

Form A petition for change of a verified The verified  petition shall be in

name shall petition for the the form of an affidavit, subscribed
be signed and verified by cancellation or and sworn to before any person
the person desiring his correction of any authorized by the law to
name changed, or some entry relating administer oaths.
other person on his thereto
behalf,
Notice, Court shall direct that a Court shall cause Sec. 9
Publication copy of the order be reasonable
& posting published before the notice thereof to
hearing at least once a be given to the
week for 3 successive persons named
weeks in some in the petition.
newspaper of general (publication is
circulation published in sufficient to
the province, as the court include all
shall deem best. interested
parties.)

The court shall

also cause the
order to be
published once a
week for 3
consecutive
weeks in a
newspaper of
general
circulation in the
 province.
Hearing The date set for the
hearing shall not be
within 30 days prior to an
election nor within 4
month after the last
publication of the notice.

Oppositor1)        Any interested person1)        The civil Non-adversarial

2)       The Solicitor General or registrar and
the proper provincial or 2)       any person
city fiscal shall appear on having or
behalf of the Government claiming any
of the Republic. interest under
the entry whose
cancellation or
correction is
sought
within fifteen
(15) days from
notice of the
petition, or from
the last date of
publication of
such notice, file
his opposition
thereto.

Grounds 1)        when the name is 1.        The petitioner finds the first

ridiculous, tainted with name or nickname to be ridiculous,
dishonor, or is extremely tainted with dishonor or extremely
difficult to write or difficult to write or pronounce.
pronounce; 2.        The new first name or nickname
2)       when the request for has been habitually and
change is a consequence continuously used by the
of a change of status, such petitioner and he has been publicly
as when a natural child is known by that by that first name
acknowledged or or nickname in the community: or
legitimated; and 3.        The change will avoid confusion.
3)       when the change is
necessary to avoid
confusion,
4)       having continuously
used and had been known
since childhood by a
 Filipino name, unaware of
her alien parentage;
5)       a sincere desire to
adopt a Filipino name to
erase signs of a former
alienage, al in good faith
and without prejudicing
surname causes
embarrassment and here
is no showing the desired
change of name was for a
fraudulent purpose or
that it would prejudice
public interest.

Judgment that such name be court may either When the petition for a change of
changed in accordance dismiss the first name is approved by the
with the prayer of the petition or issue C/MCR or CG or D/CR and such
petition. an order decision has not been impugned by
granting the the CRG, the change shall be
cancellation or reflected in the birth certificate by
correction way of marginal annotation.
prayed for.
Service of Judgments or orders – In either case
judgment shall be furnished the (dismissed or
civil registrar of the granted), a
municipality or city certified copy of
where the court issuing the judgment
the same is situated, who shall be served
shall forthwith enter the upon the civil
same in the civil register registrar
concerned who
shall annotated 
the same in his
record.
Example Adopted child’s change of Illegitimacy
surname Sex
Nationality/
citizenship
Civil status

NOTES
 RULE 103
{  Lack of verification – not jurisdictional; only renders the pleading fatally defective (which
may be corrected) hence warrants dismissal of the petition
{  The petition must be filed by the person desiring to change his/her name, even if it may be
signed and verified by some other person (example mother of a minor. The minor would
have to file the petition herself when she reaches the age of majority)
{  All names or aliases must appear in the caption of the petition – omission is fatal to the
petition
{  Purpose of publication: to apprise the public of the pendency of the petition so that those
who may know of any legal objection to it might come forward with the iformation in order
to determine the fitness of the petitioner…” (jurisdictional)
{  A petition to change the name of an infant should be granted only where to do so is clearly
for the best interest of the child (petition filed by the mother)
{  Insufficient grounds for change of name:
Ø  Separation of spouses
Ø  No proof of prejudice by use of official name
Ø  Mere use and known y different name
Ø  No proof hat true name evokes derisive laughter

RULE108
{  Applies only to substantial changes and corrections in entries in the civil register. Under Rep.
Act No. 9048, a correction in the civil registry involving the change of sex is not a mere
clerical or typographical error. It is a substantial change for which the applicable procedure
is Rule 108 of the Rules of Court.
{  Note: Te correction should not imply a change of status but a mere rectification of error;
there must be no increase or diminution of substantive right
{  The child may not collaterally impugn his legitimacy as entered in the register in an action of
partition (purpose: declare him illegitimate); but he may file this petitioner mother is not
the latter’s child at all)
{  A clerical error is one which is visible to the eyes or obvious to the understanding; an error
made by a clerk or a transcriber; a mistake in copying or writing, or a harmless change such
as a correction of name that is clearly misspelled or of a misstatement of the occupation of
the parent. Substantial or contentious alterations may be allowed only in adversarial
proceedings, in which all interested parties are impleaded and due process is properly
observed.
{  Period to file petition: from discovery of error
{  Purpose of proceedings: establish the status or right of a party, or a particular fact
{  The recognition of the foreign divorce decree may be made in a Rule 108 proceeding itself, as
the object of special proceedings (such as that in Rule 108 of the Rules of Court) is precisely
to establish the status or right of a party or a particular fact. Moreover, Rule 108 of the
Rules of Court can serve as the appropriate adversarial proceeding by which the
applicability of the foreign judgment can be measured and tested in terms of jurisdictional
infirmities, want of notice to the party, collusion, fraud, or clear mistake of law or fact.
 RA 9048
{  The correction of clerical or typographical error shall be availed of only once with respect to
a particular entry or entries in the same civil registry record. However, with regard to the
change of first name or nickname in the birth certificate, the privilege shall be availed of
only once subject to Rule 12 hereunder.

Examples
{  But if your birth certificate shows Ma. Cecilia instead of Maria Cecilia – cannot be corrected
under 9048, it is not typographical error. You have to avail of Art. 103
{  Corpuz and Corpus or Gutierrez and Gutierres – not typographical errors
{   Another example: First name is Enrile and family name is Teodoro (baliktad diba?). If
interchanged, it is not innocuous. If it affects business relations or otherwise rights and
obligations, you have to go to 108
{  The error is innocuous. (ex. Date of birth is 1989 but what appears is 1889; a woman gave
birth when she was 35yo but what appears is she gave birth when she was 5yo) – clearly
typographical error

{  NOTE: But there are special cases where because of evidence presented were considered
under 9048, so it is now a matter of evidence. As long as you can support your claim, and
the best support would be also documents regarding the name of your parents, brothers
and sisters, grandparents. (Example: Their names are also Gutierrez and not Gutierres). If
you can prove that it was typographical error, it will fall under 9048.