CHAPTER 3 - CITIZENSHIP AND DOMICILE

Importance of nationality and domicile.

Citizenship and nationality are synonymous and are interchangeably used.
A person may be a citizen of one country, but he may be domiciled in another state
or country.
Article 15 of the Civil Code provides that "Laws relating to family rights and duties, or
to the status, condition and legal capacity of persons are binding upon citizens of the
Philippines, even though living abroad."
Article 16, second paragraph, of the Civil Code states that "intestate and
testamentary succession, both with respect to the order of succession and to the
amount of successional rights and to the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions,
shall be regulated by the national law of the person whose succession is under
consideration, whatever may be the nature of the property and regardless of the
country wherein said property may be found.
Articles 15 and 16 of the Civil Code and the law on domicile, as well as rules on the
choice of law based on citizenship or domicile, underscore the importance of
studying and understanding citizenship or nationality and domicile. In fact, one of
the circumstances taken into account in determining the applicable law in a conflict
of laws situation is the citizenship or nationality of a party litigant or his domicile.
Citizenship, generally.
Citizenship means the status of being a citizen of a state who owes allegiance to the
state and is entitled to its protection and to the enjoyment of civil and political rights
therein.
Citizenship is synonymous with nationality.
Each state or country determines who are its citizens or nationals; it has no authority
generally to determine who are citizens of other countries, except as an incident in a
case whose resolution requires such determination. Each state, by its constitution or
laws, determines who are its citizen and who have lost their citizenship.
Who are citizens of the Philippines.

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The Constitution uses the word "citizen" in two concepts, namely: a natural person
who, under the Constitution, is considered a Filipino citizen; and a juridical person at
least 60% of whose capital is owned by Filipino natural persons.
Article IV of the 1987 Constitution on citizenship reads:
"Sec. 1. The following are citizens of the Philippines.
(1) Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this
Constitution;
(2) Those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines;
(3) Those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine
citizenship upon reaching the age of majority; and
(4) Those who are naturalized in accordance with law.
The foregoing provision of the Constitution recognizes two modes of acquiring
Philippine citizenship, namely,
(a) jus sanguinis or the acquisition of citizenship on the basis of blood relationship,
pursuant to which a child follows the nationality or citizenship of the parents
regardless of the place of his/her birth; and
(b) naturalization, which is the acquisition of Philippine citizenship in accordance
with the nationalization law of the country or by an act of Congress adopting an
alien and clothing him with the privileges of a citizen.

Election of citizenship.
Under Section 1 thereof, legitimate children born of Filipino mothers may elect
Philippine citizenship by expressing such intention "in a statement to be signed and
sworn to by the party concerned before any officer authorized to administer oath,
and shall be filed with the nearest civil registry.
The said party shall accompany the aforesaid statement with the oath of allegiance
to the Constitution of the Philippines." The election must be made within a
reasonable time from reaching the age of majority, which has been construed to
mean within three (3) years therefrom. An election made after seven (7) years after
reaching majority age was not valid, much more so when the election was made
after the person had already reached 35 years old.

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The passage of time has eliminated election of Filipino citizenship, recognized under
the 1935 and 1973 Constitutions, as a method of acquiring citizenship for there
would then be no more persons under such class under the 1987 Constitution.
Two kinds of citizens.
There are two ways of acquiring citizenship:
(1) by birth, and (2) by naturalization.
These two ways of acquiring citizenship correspond to the two kinds of citizenship:
natural born and naturalized. A person who at the time of birth is a citizen of a
particular country, is a natural-born citizen thereof. Thus, Filipino citizens are either
natural-born or naturalized citizens.
Section 2 of Article IV of the 1987 Constitution defines who are natural-born citizens:
"Natural-born citizens are those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth
without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship.
Those who elect Philippine citizenship in accordance with paragraph (3), Section 1
hereof shall be deemed natural born citizens.
Dual citizenship.
Dual citizenship means the status of a person who is a citizen of two or more
countries at the same time.
Dual citizenship arises when, as a result of the concurrent application of the different
laws of two or more states, a person is simultaneously considered a national by the
said states. For instance, such a situation may arise when a person whose parents
are citizens of a state which adheres to the principle of jus sanguinis is born in a state
which follows the doctrine of jus soli. Such a person, ipso facto and without any
voluntary act on his part, is concurrently considered a citizen of both states.
Considering the citizenship clause of our Constitution, it is possible for the following
classes of citizens of the Philippines to possess dual citizenship:
1. Those born of Filipino fathers and/or mothers in foreign countries which follow
the principle of jus soli;
2. Those born in the Philippines of Filipino mothers and alien fathers if by the laws of
their fathers' country such children are citizens of that country; and 3. Those who
marry aliens if by the laws of the latter's country the former are considered citizens,

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unless by their act or omission they are deemed to have renounced Philippine
citizenship.
Republic Act 9225 covers only natural-born Filipino citizens and not naturalized
citizens. Naturalized citizens cannot have dual citizenship, one as citizen of his
country of origin and another as naturalized citizen of the Philippines, which is
inimical to the national interest. The purpose is to prevent dual allegiance to two
distinct jurisdictions. In this connection, the Court held:
"It is argued that the same (requirement that Chinese applicant must secure
permission from the Chinese Ministry of the Interior for permission to renounce his
Chinese nationality) is not required by our laws and that the naturalization of an
alien, as a citizen of the Philippines, is governed exclusively by such laws and cannot
be controlled by any foreign law. Section 12 of Commonwealth Act 473 provides,
however, that before naturalization certificate is issued, the petitioner shall
'solemnly swear,' inter alia, that he renounces 'absolutely and forever all allegiance
and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate' and particularly to the state 'of which'
he is 'a subject or citizen.
Pursuant to Republic Act 2639, 'the acquisition of citizenship by a natural-born
Filipino citizen from one of the Iberian and any friendly democratic Iberian-American
countries shall not produce loss or forfeiture of his Philippine citizenship, if the law of
that country grants the same privilege to its citizens and had been agreed upon by
treaty between the Philippines and the foreign country from which citizenship is
acquired.’
Dual citizenship is different from dual allegiance. Dual allegiance refers to the
situation in which a person simultaneously owes, by some positive act, loyalty to two
or more states. Dual citizenship is involuntary, while dual allegiance is the result of
an individual's volition.
Loss of citizenship.
Pursuant to Com. Act 63, a Filipino citizen may lose his citizenship in any of the
following acts:
1. By naturalization in a foreign country;
2. By express renunciation of citizenship;

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3. By subscribing to an oath of allegation to support the constitution or laws of a
foreign country upon attaining twenty-one years of age or more;
4. By accepting commission in the military, naval or air service of a foreign country;
5. By cancellation of the certificate of naturalization;
6. By having been declared by competent authority, a deserter of the Philippine
armed forces in time of war, unless subsequently a plenary pardon or amnesty has
been granted; and
7. In case of a woman, upon her marriage to a foreigner if, by virtue of the laws in
force in her husband's country, she acquires his nationality.
In Yu u. Defensor-Santiago, the Court held that a Portuguese national, whose
application for naturalization as a Filipino citizen was granted and who, after taking
his oath as a naturalized Filipino, applied for renewal of his Portuguese passport and
declared in commercial documents executed abroad that he was a Portuguese
national, had renounced and lost his Filipino citizenship by naturalization. For
Philippine citizenship can never be treated like a commodity that can be claimed
when needed and suppressed when convenient.
Re-acquisition of Filipino citizenship.
A citizen who lost his citizenship may re-acquire his citizenship by naturalization, by
repatriation, and by direct act of Congress. Repatriation results in the recovery of the
original nationality. If he was originally a natural-born citizen before he lost his
Filipino citizenship, he will be restored to his former status as a natural-born Filipino.
Naturalization is mode for both acquisition and reacquisition of Philippine
citizenship. Under this law, a former Filipino citizen who wishes to reacquire
Philippine citizenship must possess certain qualifications and none of the
disqualification mentioned in Section 4 of CA. 473.
Repatriation, on the other hand, may be had under various statutes by those who
lost their citizenship due to: (1) desertion of the armed forces; (2) services in the
armed forces of the allied forces in World War II; (3) service in the Armed Forces of
the United States at any other time, (4) marriage of a Filipino woman to an alien; and
(5) political economic necessity.
Citizenship by naturalization.

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(3) Ways by which an alien may become a citizen by naturalization, namely:
1. by administrative naturalization pursuant to Republic Act No. 9139, otherwise
known as "The Administrative Naturalization Law of 2000,"
2. by judicial naturalization pursuant to Com. Act No. 473, as amended, and
3. by legislative naturalization, in the form of a law enacted by Congress
bestowing Philippine citizenship to an alien.
The administrative naturalization is a simplified procedure of acquiring Philippine
citizenship by aliens who are born and residing in the Philippines. Aliens who are not
born in the Philippines cannot therefore be naturalized by administrative and
simplified procedure under R.A. 9139. However, they may apply for judicial
naturalization under Com. Act 473, as amended or secure from Congress a law
conferring upon them Filipino citizenship.
Domicile defined.
That place where a man has his true, fixed and permanent home and principal
establishment, and to which whenever he is absent "he has the intention of
returning.”
"Residence" signifies living in particular locality.
“Domicile" means living in that locality with intent to make it a fixed and permanent
home."
The Restatement of the Law, Second, Conflict of Laws 2d, Section 11 thereof, defines
domicile as follows:
(1) Domicile is a place, usually a person's home, to which the rules of Conflict of Laws
sometimes accord determinative significance because of the person's identification
with that place.
(2) Every person has a domicile at all times and, at least for the same purpose, no
person has more than one domicile at a time.
Kinds of domicile.
1. Domicile of origin or by birth; 2. Domicile of choice; and 3. Domicile by
operation of law.

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Domicile of origin is the domicile of a person's parents at the time of his birth, which
is not easily lost, and it continues until, upon reaching majority age, he abandons it
and acquires a new domicile, which new domicile is the domicile of choice. Domicile
by operation of law is that which the law attributes to a person because of his
disability to make a choice, such as when he is a minor or suffers from mental or
physical disability, in which case he follows, as a rule, the domicile of his father.
Rules regarding domicile.
It has been held that there is no hard and fast rule for determining domicile. Each
case must depend upon the particular facts or circumstances. However, there are
three rules which are established: (1) a man has a domicile somewhere; (2) a
domicile once established remains until a new one is acquired; and (3) a man can
have but only one domicile at a time.
A person may change his domicile of origin or a domicile of choice by complying with
the following requirements: (1) an actual removal or an actual change of domicile;
(2) a bona fide intention of abandoning the former place of residence and
establishing a new one; and (3) acts which correspond with such purpose.
To acquire a new domicile by choice, there must concur (1) residence or bodily
presence in the new locality, (2) an intention to remain there, and (3) an intention to
abandon the old domicile.
In Macalintal v. Commission on Elections, the Supreme Court stated that the affidavit
which a Filipino permanent resident in a foreign country is required to execute if he
desires to register as an absentee voter is to give him the chance to manifest
whether to maintain his domicile in the Philippines or to abandon it, when the Court
declared Sec. 5(d) of Republic Act No. 9189, otherwise known as the Overseas
Absentee Voting Act of 2003, as constitutional.
The ruling has clarified domicile, insofar as permanent resident citizens abroad are
concerned.
Domicile and residence distinguished.
Residence is used to indicate a place of abode, whether permanent or temporary;
while domicile denotes a fixed permanent residence to which, when absent one has
the intention of returning.

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 When a person has more than one dwelling place, his domicile is in the earlier
dwelling place unless the second dwelling place is his principal home. Home is
defined as the place where a person dwells and which is the center of his domestic,
social and civil life.
Domicile and residence for political purposes.
The word "residence," for the purpose of meeting the qualification for an elective
position, means "domicile" or the individual's permanent home, a place to which,
whenever absent for business or for pleasure, one intends to return, and depends on
facts and circumstances in the sense that they disclose intent.
It includes the twin elements of the fact of residing or physical presence in a fixed
place, and animus manendi, or the intention of returning there permanently. In
showing compliance with the residence requirement, both intent and actual
presence in the place where the candidate intends to run must satisfy the length of
time prescribed by the Constitution or the law.
Domicile and venue.
For purposes of venue in estate proceedings, residence and domicile are different.
Domicile refers to the fixed, permanent residence to which, when absent, one has
the intention of returning, while venue in estate proceeding is the place where the
settlement of estate is filed and corresponds to "residence" in the context of venue
provisions, which is nothing more than a person's actual residence or place of abode,
where he resides therein with continuity and consistency. The word "reside" in the
place where the settlement of estate should be filed does not refer to legal residence
or domicile.