REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES V. HUANG TE FU A.K.A.

ROBERT UY
G.R. NO. 200983, MARCH 18, 2015

FACTS:
 Huang Te Fu, a.k.a. Robert Uy, was a citizen of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
 He filed a sworn Declaration of Intent to Become a Citizen of the Philippines with the Office of
the Solicitor General on March 19, 2004.
 Later, in 2005,he filed a Petition for Naturalization with the Regional Trial Court(RTC) stating,
among others, a) his place of residency, b) his trade or profession, c) that he was born in Taiwan,
d) his Chinese citizenship, e) that he married a Filipino woman named Irene D. Chan whom he
had two children with, f) the date when he arrived to the Philippines, g) that he has resided in
the Philippines for twenty-three years during which he attained his primary education until
finishing college, and h) he is of good moral character.
 On September 2007, the Court found Huang Te Fu to have fulfilled all the required qualifications
and thereby granted his petition for admission as a citizen of the Philippines.
 However, a petition was filled to the Court of Appeals, revealing contrary facts from the ones
given by Huang Te Fe that can deny his admission.
 Some of the facts revealed that Huang Te Fe did not really own any real estate in the Philippines
and the contracts he and his wife signed to purchase a land in Antipolo City misrepresented him
as a Filipino. Also, he could not cite in verbatim principles in the Philippine Constitution which he
claimed to believe in. But, the Court decided that just because he could not cite them in
verbatim, does not mean that he does not believe in them.
 Finding that Huang Te Fe is of no fault, the Court denied the petition and affirmed his
Naturalization. The petitioner moved for reconsideration but the decision stood. Thus, the
petitioner filed to the Supreme Court.
ISSUE:
Whether or not Huang Te Fu is entitled to be admitted as a citizen of the Philippines under CA
473 (Revised Naturalization Law).
RULING:
No. Under Section 1 of Article 4 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, discussed that one was to
acquire citizenship in the Philippines is in the form of naturalization. However, the ponente in
the case of Republic v. Hong held that naturalization laws should be rigidly enforced and strictly
construed in favour of the government and against the applicant. Thus, as Huang Te Fu did not
fully and completely complied with the requirements of the said law, his application was denied.