ANNOTATION
 
CORRECTION OF CIVIL ENTRIES[1]
 
By
 
Atty. EMMANUEL J. MAPILI[2]
 
___________________

§ 1.      Introduction, p. 740

§ 2.     Relevant Laws, p. 741

§ 3.      When Rule 108 An Appropriate Adversary Proceeding, p. 756

§ 4.      Susceptibility of Void Marriages to Collateral Attack, p. 758

§ 5.      Recognition of Foreign Judgment, p. 760

§ 6       Correction of Entries Re Fictitious Marriages Usually in Birth

Certificates, p. 761
 
___________________
 
 
§ 1. Introduction
The best proof of a marriage is the Certificate of
Marriage. It is a certificate containing the full name and
address of each of the contracting party, their ages, date of
the marriage, the names and addresses of the witnesses,
the full name, address

_______________
[1] Republic of the Philippines vs. Merlinda L. Olaybar, G.R. No.
189538, February 10, 2014.
[2] Atty. Emmanuel J. Mapili, a Career Service Executive Eligible
(CSEE), before becoming Hearing Commissioner at the House of
Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET), was senior partner at the
Buhain Soriano & Mapili Law Offices from 1995-1996. He is co-author of
several law books published by Central Book Supply, Inc.

741

and relationship of the minor contracting parties or party

of the person or persons who gave consent to the marriage
and the full name, title and address of the solemnizing
officer and registered in the Register of Marriages.
In Republic of the Philippines vs. Merlinda L. Olaybar,
[3] which is the case for annotation, respondent discovered,
when she requested from the National Statistics Office
(NSO) a Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) which is
one of the requirements for marriage, that she was already
married to a Korean national. Because of this discovery,
she filed a “Petition for Cancellation of Entries in the
Marriage Contract” before the Regional Trial Court (RTC)
pursuant to Rule 108 of the Rules of Court, especially the
entries in the portion of the marriage contract containing
information about the “wife.” During the hearing,
respondent testified and denied having contracted that
marriage and claimed that she did not even know said
Korean national. Based on the evidence presented, the RTC
decided in favor of respondent and ordered the cancellation
and correction of the entries on the portion of the marriage
contract pertaining to the “wife”. Petitioner questioned said
decision on the ground, inter alia, that there was no clerical
spelling, typographical and other innocuous errors in the
marriage contract for it to fall within the provisions of Rule
108. The Supreme Court ruled that the RTC correctly
applied Rule 108 of the Rules of Court.
 
 
§ 2. Relevant Laws
The controversies about entries of certain events in the
civil registry office concern the issue of whether the entry
sought to be recorded (or corrected) is either clerical, i.e.,
harmless or innocuous or substantial, i.e., involving
matters that require full blown investigation. These are
various laws on entries of certain events in the civil
registrar offices that will be used and mentioned in this
annotation.

_______________
[3] G.R. No. 189538, February 10, 2014.

742

A. Law on Registry of Civil Status (Commonwealth Act

No. 3753)
 
 Section 1. Civil Register.—A civil register is established
for recording the civil status of persons, in which shall be
entered: (a) births; (b) deaths; (c) marriages; (d)
annulments of marriages; (e) divorces; (f) legitimations; (g)
adoptions; (h) acknowledgment of natural children; (i)
naturalization; and (j) changes of name.
Section 2. Civil Registrar-General his duties and powers.—
The director of the National Library shall be Civil
Registrar-General and shall enforce the provisions of this
Act. The Director of the National Library, in his capacity as
Civil Registrar-General, is hereby authorized to prepare
and issue, with the approval of the Secretary of Justice,
regulations for carrying out the purposes of this Act, and to
prepare and order printed the necessary forms for its
proper compliance. In the exercise of his functions as Civil
Registrar-General, the Director of the National Library
shall have the power to give orders and instructions to the
local Civil registrars with reference to the performance of
their duties as such. It shall be the duty of the Director of
the National Library to report any violation of the
provisions of this Act and all irregularities, negligence or
incompetency on the part of the officers designated as local
civil registrars to the (Chief of the Executive Bureau or the
Director of the Non-Christian Tribes) Secretary of the
Interior, as the case may be, who shall take the proper
disciplinary action against the offenders.
Section 3. Local Civil Registrars.—Except in the City of
Manila, where the duties of local civil registrar shall be
performed by the officer of the Philippine Health Service
designated by the Director of said service, the Treasurers of
the regular municipalities, municipal districts and cities
shall be local civil registrars of the respective
municipalities, municipal districts or cities and shall
perform the duties imposed upon them by this Act without
extra compensation,

743

in addition to their ordinary duties. In his capacity as local

civil registrar, the officer designated by the Director of the
Health Service as local civil registrar of Manila and the
treasurers above mentioned shall be under the direction
and supervision of the Civil Registrar-General.
Section 4. Civil Register Books.—The local registrars
shall keep and preserve in their offices the following books,
in which they shall, respectively make the proper entries
concerning the civil status of persons:
1.     Birth and death register;
2.     Marriage register, in which shall be entered not
only the marriages solemnized but also divorces
and dissolved marriages.
3.     Legitimation, acknowledgment, adoption, change
of name and naturalization register.
Section 5. Registration and Certification of
Birth.—The declaration of the physician or midwife in
attendance at the birth or, in default thereof, the
declaration of either parent of the newborn child, shall be
sufficient for the registration of a birth in the civil register.
Such declaration shall be exempt from the documentary
stamp tax and shall be sent to the local civil registrar not
later than thirty days after the birth, by the physician, or
midwife in attendance at the birth or by either parent of
the newly born child.
In such declaration, the persons above mentioned shall
certify to the following facts: (a) date and hour of birth; (b)
sex and nationality of infant; (c) names, citizenship, and
religion of parents or, in case the father is not known, of
the mother alone; (d) civil status of parents; (e) place where
the infant was born; (f) and such other data may be
required in the regulation to be issued.
 In the case of an exposed child, the person who found
the same shall report to the local civil registrar the place,
date and hour of finding and other attendant
circumstances.
744

In case of an illegitimate child, the birth certificate shall

be signed and sworn to jointly by the parents of the infant
or only the mother if the father refuses. In the latter case,
it shall not be permissible to state or reveal in the
document the name of the father who refuses to
acknowledge the child, or to give therein any information
by which such father could be identified.
Any fetus having human features which dies after
twenty four hours of existence completely disengaged from
the maternal womb shall be entered in the proper registers
as having been born and having died.
Section 6. Death certificate and register.—No human body
shall be buried unless the proper death certificate has been
presented and recorded in the office of the local civil
registrar. The physician who attended the deceased or, in
his default the health officer concerned, or in default of the
latter, any member of the family of the deceased or any
person having knowledge of the death, shall report the
same to the local health authorities, who shall issue a
death certificate and shall order the same to be recorded in
the office of the local civil registrar. The death certificate,
which shall be issued by the attending physician of the
deceased or, in his default, by the proper health officer,
shall contain the following data be furnished by the person
reporting the death; (a) date and place of death; (b) full
name, (c) age, (d) sex, (e) occupation or profession, (f)
residence; (g) status as regards marriage, (h) nationality of
the deceased, and (i) probable cause of death.
During epidemics, bodies may be buried provided the
proper death certificates have been secured, which shall be
registered not later than five days after the burial of the
body.
Section 7. Registration of marriages.—All civil officers
and priests or ministers authorized to solemnize marriages
shall send a copy of each marriage contract
745

solemnized by them to the local civil registrar within the

time limit specified in the existing Marriage Law.
In cases of divorce and annulment of marriage, it shall
be the duty of the successful petitioner for divorce or
annulment of marriage to send a copy of the final decree of
the court to that local civil registrar of the municipality
where the dissolved or annulled marriage was solemnized.
In the marriage register there shall be entered the full
name and address of each of the contracting parties, their
ages, the place and date of the solemnization of the
marriage, the names and addresses of the witnesses, the
full name, address, and relationship of the minor
contracting party or parties or the person or persons who
gave their consent to the marriage, and the full name, title,
and address of the person who solemnized the marriage.
In cases of divorce or annulment of marriages, there
shall be recorded the names of the parties divorced or
whose marriage was annulled, the date of the decree of the
court, and such other details as the regulations to be issued
may require.
Section 8. Registration of legitimations by subsequent
marriage.—The acknowledgment of the children legitimated
by subsequent marriage, referred to in article one hundred
and twenty-one of the Civil Code, may be recorded in the
legitimation register, entering: (a) The names of the
parents; (b) that at the time when the children were
conceived, the aforesaid parents could have contracted
marriage, and that they actually contracted marriage,
stating the date and place when such marriage was
solemnized, the minister who officiated, and the civil
register where such marriage was recorded; (c) the names
of the children legitimated with reference to their birth
certificates.
Section 9. Registration of acknowledgment by public
instrument.—Any voluntary acknowledgment by the natural
parents or by only one of them by public instrument,
746

shall be recorded in the acknowledgment register of the

civil registrar of the municipality where the decree was
issued. The names of the interested parties and such other
data as may be required by the regulations to be issued
shall be entered in register.
It shall be the duty of the natural parents whose
voluntary acknowledgment was may be means of a public
instrument to send a certified copy thereof to the local civil
registrar of the municipality in the civil register whereof
the birth of the acknowledged child was recorded, not later
than twenty days after the execution of such instrument,
for the registration thereof.
Section 10. Registrations of adoptions, changes of name, and
naturalization.—In cases of adoptions, changes of name, and
naturalization, it shall be the duty of the interested parties
or petitioners to register the same in the local civil
registrar of the municipality where the birth of the
acknowledged child was registered setting forth the
following data: (a) full name of the natural child
acknowledged; (b) age; (c) date and place of birth; (d) status
as to marriage, and residence of the child acknowledged; (e)
full name of the natural father or mother who makes the
acknowledgment; (f) full name of the notary public before
whom the document was acknowledged; (g) full names of
witnesses to document; (h) date and place of
acknowledgment of said document and entry and page
number of the notarial register in which the name was
recorded.
Section 11. Duties of clerks of Court to register certain
decisions.—In cases of legitimation, acknowledgment,
adoption, naturalization and change of given or family
name, or both, upon the decree which issued the decree to
ascertain whether the same has been registered, and if this
has not been done, to have said decree recorded in the office
of the civil registrar of the municipality where the court is
functioning.
747

Section 12. Duties of local civil registrar.—Local civil

registrars shall (a) file registrable certificates and
documents presented to them for entry; (b) complete the
same monthly and prepare and send any information
required of them by the Civil Registrar-General; (c) issue
certified transcripts or copies of any certificate or document
registered upon payment of proper fees; (d) order the
binding, properly classified, of all certificates or documents
registered during the year; (e) send to the Civil Registrar-
General, during the first ten days of each month, a copy of
the entries made during the preceding month for filing; (f)
index the same to facilitate search and identification in
case any information is required, and (g) administer oaths,
free of charge, for civil register purposes.
Section 13. Documents registered are public documents.—
The books making up the civil register and all documents
relating thereto shall be considered public documents and
be prima facie evidence of the truth of the facts therein
contained. They shall be open to the public during office
hours and shall be kept in a suitable safe which shall be
furnished to the local civil registrar at the expense of the
general fund of the municipality concerned. The local
registrar shall not under any circumstances permit any
document entrusted to his care to be removed from his
office, except by order of a court, in which case the proper
receipt shall be taken. The local civil registrar may issue
certified copies of any document filed, upon payment of the
proper fees required in this Act.
Section 14. Expenses and fees of the office of the civil
registrar.—All expenses in connection with the
establishment of local civil registers shall be paid out of
municipal funds, and for this purpose, municipal councils
and boards shall make the necessary appropriation out of
their available general funds:
748

For the registration of documents and for certified copies

of documents on file in the local civil registrar’s office, fees
shall be charged in accordance with the following schedule:
a.     For registration of legitimations P2.00
b.     For registration of an adoption 2.00
c.      For registration of an annulment of marriage 10.00
d.     For registration of a divorce 10.00
e.     For registration of naturalization 20.00
f.      For registration of a change of name 2.00
g.    For certified copies of any documents in the register,
for each one hundred words 20.00
The Civil Registrar General or any local civil registrar
may issue certified copies of documents free of charge for
official use or at the request of a competent court. All fees
collected for such purposes shall accrue to the general fund
of the municipality concerned.
Section 15. Preservation of present register books.—All
birth, death and marriage registers and other papers
relating thereto at present in the keeping of the municipal
secretaries or the clerk of the Municipal Court of Manila
shall be transferred by the same to the officers acting as
local civil registrars in each city or municipality and shall
form part of the archives of the latter.
Section 16. False statement.—Any person who shall
knowingly make false statement in the forms furnished
and shall present the same for entry in the civil register,
shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one
month nor more than six months, or by a fine of not less
than two hundred pesos nor more than five hundred or
both, in the discretion of the court.
Section 17. Failure to report.—Other violations. — Any
person whose duty is to report any fact concerning the
749

civil status of persons and who knowingly fails to perform

such duty, and any person convicted of having violated any
of the provisions of this Act shall be punished by a fine of
not less than ten pesos nor more than two hundred.
Section 18. Neglect of duty with reference to the provisions
of this Act.—Any local registrar who fails properly to
perform his duties in accordance with the provisions of this
Act and of the regulations issued hereunder, shall be
punished for the first offense, by an administrative fine in
a sum equal to his salary for not less than fifteen days nor
more than three months, and for a second or repeated
offense, by removal from the service.
Section 19. Application of this Act to the special provinces.—
The Director of the National Library, in his capacity as
Civil Registrar-General, is hereby authorized upon
recommendation of the (Director of Bureau of Non-
Christian Tribes) Secretary of the Interior, to designate the
municipalities in the specially organized provinces where
the provisions of this Act shall be applied.
 Section 20. Transitory provisions.—All rights, duties and
powers established by Act Numbered thirty-six hundred
and thirteen, entitled the Marriage Law, with the reference
to the procedure for the issuance of the marriage license
prior to the solemnization of marriage, the registration, of
marriages, and the filing of the documents in connection
therewith, conferred and imposed by said Act upon the
clerk of the Municipal Court of Manila and the municipal
secretaries, are hereby transferred to the officer of the
Health Service in accordance with section three of this Act,
and to the municipal treasurers, respectively, in their
capacity as local registrars.
All duties and powers established by subsections (d) and
(e) of section twenty-one hundred and twelve of the
Administrative Code, imposed and conferred by said
section upon the municipal secretaries, are hereby likewise

750

transferred to the municipal treasurers in their capacity as

local civil registrars.
Section 21. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith
are hereby repealed.
Section 22. This Act shall take effect three months after its
approval.
Approved, November 26, 1930.
 
B. Civil Code of the Philippines
Art. 407. Acts, events and judicial decrees concerning
the civil status of persons shall be recorded in the civil
register.
Art. 408. The following shall be entered in the civil
register: (1) Births; (2) marriages; (3) deaths; (4) legal
separations; (5) annulments of marriage; (6) judgments
declaring marriages void from the beginning; (7)
legitimations; (8) adoptions; (9) acknowledgments of
natural children; (10) naturalization; (11) loss, or (12)
recovery of citizenship; (13) civil interdiction; (14) judicial
determination of filiation; (15) voluntary emancipation of a
minor; and (16) changes of name.
Art. 410. The books making up the civil register and
all documents relating thereto shall be considered public
documents and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts
therein contained.
Art. 411. Every civil registrar shall be civilly
responsible for any unauthorized alteration made in any
civil register, to any person suffering damage thereby.
However, the civil registrar may exempt himself from such
liability if he proves that he has taken every reasonable
precaution to prevent the unlawful alteration.
Art. 412. No entry in a civil register shall be changed
or corrected, without a judicial order.
 751

 
C. Republic Act No. 9048[4]
 
SECTION 1. Authority to Correct Clerical or Typographical
Error and Change of First Name or Nickname.—No entry in a
civil register shall be changed or corrected without a
judicial order, except for clerical or typographical errors
and change of first name or nickname, the day and month
in the date of birth or sex of a person where it is patently
clear that there was a clerical or typographical error or
mistake in the entry, which can be corrected or changed by
the concerned city or municipal civil registrar or consul
general in accordance with the provisions of this Act and
its implementing rules and regulations. (As amended by
R.A. 10172,[5] approved August 15, 2012)
SECTION 2. Definition of Terms.—As used in this Act,
the following terms shall mean:
1. “City or Municipal civil registrar” refers to the head of
the local civil registry office of the city or municipality, as
the case may be, who is appointed as such by the city or
municipal mayor in accordance with the provisions of
existing laws.
2. “Petitioner” refers to a natural person filing the
petition and who has direct and personal interest in the
correction of a clerical or typographical error in an entry or
change of first name or nickname in the civil register.

_______________
[4] An Act Authorizing The City or Municipal Civil Registrar or The
Consul General to Correct a Clerical or Typographical Error in an Entry
and/or Change of First Name or Nickname in the Civil Register without
Need of a Judicial Order, Amending for this Purpose Articles 376 And 412
of the Civil Code of the Philippines.
[5] An Act Further Authorizing the City or Municipal Civil Registrar or
the Consul General to Correct Clerical or Typographical Errors in the Day
and Month in the Date of Birth or Sex of a Person Appearing in the Civil
Register Without Need of a Judicial Order Amending for this Purpose
Republic Act Numbered Ninety Forty-Eight.

752

3. “Clerical or typographical error” refers to a mistake

committed in the performance of clerical work in writing,
copying, transcribing or typing an entry in the civil register
that is harmless and innocuous, such as misspelled name
or misspelled place of birth, mistake in the entry of day and
month in the date of birth or the sex of the person or the
like, which is visible to the eyes or obvious to the under-
standing, and can be corrected or changed only by reference
to other existing record or records: Provided, however, That
no correction must involve the change of nationality, age,
or status of the petitioner. (As amended by R.A. 10172,
approved August 15, 2012)
4. “Civil Register” refers to the various registry books
and related certificates and documents kept in the archives
of the local civil registry offices, Philippine Consulates and
of the Office of the Civil Registrar General.
5. “Civil registrar general” refers to the Administrator of
the National Statistics Office which is the agency
mandated to carry out and administer the provision of laws
on civil registration.
6. “First name” refers to a name or nickname given to a
person which may consist of one or more names in addition
to the middle and last names.
SECTION 3. Who May File the Petition and Where.
—Any person having direct and personal interest in the
correction of a clerical or typographical error in an entry
and/or change of first name or nickname in the civil
register may file, in person, a verified petition with the
local civil registry office of the city or municipality where
the record being sought to be corrected or changed is kept.
In case the petitioner has already migrated to another
place in the country and it would not be practical for such
party, in terms of transportation expenses, time and effort
to appear in person before the local civil registrar keeping
the documents to be corrected or changed, the petition may
be

753

filed, in person, with the local civil registrar of the place

where the interested party is presently residing or
domiciled. The two (2) local civil registrars concerned will
then communicate to facilitate the processing of the
petition.
Citizens of the Philippines who are presently residing or
domiciled in foreign countries may file their petition, in
person, with the nearest Philippine Consulates.
The petitions filed with the city or municipal civil
registrar or the consul general shall be processed in
accordance with this Act and its implementing rules and
regulations.
All petitions for the clerical or typographical errors
and/or change of first names or nicknames may be availed
of only once.
SECTION 4. Grounds for Change of First Name or
Nickname.—The petition for change of first name or
nickname may be allowed in any of the following cases:
The petitioner finds the first name or nickname to be
ridiculous, tainted with dishonor or extremely difficult to
write or pronounce.
The new first name or nickname has been habitually
and continuously used by the petitioner and he has been
publicly known by that by that first name or nickname in
the community; or
 The change will avoid confusion.
SECTION 5. Form and Contents of the Petition.—The
petition for correction of a clerical or typographical error, or
for change of first name or nickname, as the case may be,
shall be in the form of an affidavit, subscribed and sworn to
before any person authorized by law to administer oaths.
The affidavit shall set forth facts necessary to establish the
merits of the petition and shall show affirmatively that the
petitioner is competent to testify to the matters stated. The
petitioner shall state the particular erroneous entry or
entries, which
754

are sought to be corrected and/or the change sought to be

made.
The petition shall be supported with the following
documents:
(1) A certified true machine copy of the certificate or of
the page of the registry book containing the entry or entries
sought to be corrected or changed;
(2) At least two (2) public or private documents
showing the correct entry or entries upon which the
correction or change shall be based; and
(3) Other documents which the petitioner or the city or
municipal civil registrar or the consul general may consider
relevant and necessary for the approval of the petition.
No petition for correction of erroneous entry concerning
the date of birth or the sex of a person shall be entertained
except if the petition is accompanied by earliest school
record or earliest school documents such as, but not limited
to, medical records, baptismal certificate and other
documents issued by religious authorities; nor shall any
entry involving change of gender corrected except if the
petition is accompanied by a certification issued by an
accredited government physician attesting to the fact that
the petitioner has not undergone sex change or sex
transplant. The petition for change of first name or
nickname, or for correction of erroneous entry concerning
the day and month in the date of birth or the sex of a
person, as the case may be, shall be published at least once
a week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of
general circulation.
Furthermore, the petitioner shall submit a certification
from the appropriate law enforcements, agencies that he
has no pending case or no criminal record.
755

The petition and its supporting papers shall be filed in

three (3) copies to be distributed as follows: first copy to the
concerned city or municipal civil registrar, or the consul
general; second copy to the Office of the Civil Registrar
General; and third copy to the petitioner. (As amended by
R.A. 10172, approved August 15, 2012)
 SECTION 6. Duties of the City or Municipal Civil Registrar
or the Consul General.—The city or municipal civil registrar
or the consul general to whom the petition is presented
shall examine the petition and its supporting documents.
He shall post the petition in a conspicuous place provided
for that purpose for ten (10) consecutive days after he finds
the petition and its supporting documents sufficient in
form and substance.
The city or municipal civil registrar or the consul
general shall act on the petition and shall render a decision
not later than five (5) working days after the completion of
the posting and/or publication requirement. He shall
transmit a copy of his decision together with the records of
the proceedings to the Office of the Civil Registrar General
within five (5) working days from the date of the decision.
SECTION 7. Duties and Powers of the Civil Registrar
General.—The civil registrar general shall, within ten (10)
working days from receipt of the decision granting a
petition, exercise the power to impugn such decision by way
of an objection based on the following grounds:
a.     The error is not clerical or typographical;
b.    The correction of an entry or entries in the civil
register is substantial or controversial as it affects
the civil status of a person; or
c.  The basis used in changing the first name or
nickname of a person does not fall.
 
756

 
§ 3. When Rule 108 An Appropriate Adversary
Proceeding
As mentioned above, the petitioner in the Olaybar case
questioned the decision of the RTC ordering the
cancellation and correction of the entries on the portion of
the marriage contract pertaining to the “wife” on the
ground, inter alia, that there was no clerical spelling,
typographical and other innocuous errors in the marriage
contract for it to fall within the provisions of Rule 108. A
proceeding for correction and/or cancellation of entries in
the civil register under Rule 108 ceases to be summary in
nature and takes on the characteristics of an appropriate
adversary proceeding when all the procedural
requirements under Rule 108 are complied with. While it is
true that in special proceedings formal pleadings and a
hearing may be dispensed with, and the remedy granted
upon mere application or motion. But this is not always the
case, as when the statute expressly provides. Hence, a
special proceeding is not always summary. One only has to
take a look at the procedure outlined in Rule 108 to see
that what is contemplated therein is not a summary
proceeding per se. Rule 108 requires publication of the
petition three (3) times, i.e., once a week for three (3)
consecutive weeks (Sec. 4). Rule 108 also requires inclusion
as parties of all persons who claim any interest which
would be affected by the cancellation or correction (Sec. 3).
The civil registrar and any person in interest are also
required to file their opposition, if any, within fifteen (15)
days from notice of the petition, or from the last date of
publication of such notice (Sec. 5). Last, but not the least,
although the court may make orders expediting the
proceedings, it is after hearing that the court shall either
dismiss the petition or issue an order granting the same
(Sec. 7).[6]

_______________
[6] Republic vs. Valencia, 141 SCRA 462 (1986).

757

In Lee vs. Court of Appeals,[7] petitioners contended that

resort to Rule 108 of the Revised Rules of Court was
improper since private respondents sought to have the
entry for the name of petitioners’ mother changed from
“Keh Shiok Cheng” to “Tiu Chuan” who was a completely
different person. What private respondents therefore
sought was not merely a correction in name but a
declaration that petitioners were not born of Lee Tek
Sheng’s legitimate wife, Keh Shiok Cheng, but of his
mistress, Tiu Chuan, in effect a “bastardization of
petitioners.” Petitioners thus label private respondents’
suits before the lower courts as a collateral attack against
their legitimacy in the guise of a Rule 108 proceeding.
The Supreme Court held: “It is precisely the province of
a special proceeding such as the one outlined under Rule
108 of the Revised Rules of Court to establish the status or
right of a party, or a particular fact. The petitions filed by
private respondents for the correction of entries in the
petitioners’ records of birth were intended to establish that
for physical and/or biological reasons it was impossible for
Keh Shiok Cheng to have conceived and given birth to the
petitioners as shown in their birth records. Contrary to
petitioners’ contention that the petitions before the lower
courts were actually actions to impugn legitimacy, the
prayer therein is not to declare that petitioners are
illegitimate children of Keh Shiok Cheng, but to establish
that the former are not the latter’s children. There is
nothing to impugn as there is no blood relation at all
between Keh Shiok Cheng and petitioners.”
The petitioners assert, however, that making the
proceedings adversarial does not give trial courts the
license to go beyond the ambit of Rule 108 which is limited
to those corrections contemplated by Article 412 of the New
Civil Code or mere clerical errors of a harmless or
innocuous nature.
Republic Act No. 9048 substantially amended Article
412 of the New Civil Code, to wit:

_______________
 [7] G.R. No. 118387, October 11, 2001, 367 SCRA 110.

758

SECTION 1. Authority to Correct Clerical or Typo-

graphical Error and Change of First Name or Nickname.—
No entry in a civil register shall be changed or corrected
without a judicial order, except for clerical or typographical
errors and change of first name or nickname which can be
corrected or changed by the concerned city or municipal
civil registrar or consul general in accordance with the
provisions of this Act and its implementing rules and
regulations.
The above law speaks clearly. Clerical or typographical
errors in entries of the civil register are now to be corrected
and changed without need of a judicial order and by the
city or municipal civil registrar or consul general. The
obvious effect is to remove from the ambit of Rule 108 the
correction or changing of such errors in entries of the civil
register. Hence, what is left for the scope of operation of
Rule 108 are substantial changes and corrections in entries
of the civil register.
Republic Act No. 9048 is Congress’ response to the
confusion wrought by the failure to delineate as to what
exactly is that so-called summary procedure for changes
or corrections of a harmless or innocuous nature as
distinguished from that appropriate adversary
proceeding for changes or corrections of a substantial
kind. For we must admit that though we have constantly
referred to an appropriate adversary proceeding, we
have failed to categorically state just what that procedure
is. Republic Act No. 9048 now embodies that summary
procedure while Rule 108 is that appropriate
adversary proceeding.
 
§ 4.    Susceptibility of Void Marriages to Collateral
Attack
The Olaybar case raises some interesting questions on
the susceptibility of void marriages to a collateral attack.
It must be noted that Section 2(a) of the Rule on
Declaration of Absolute Nullity of Void Marriages and
Annulment of Voidable Marriages (A.M. No. 02-11-10-SC)
states that a
759

petition for declaration of absolute nullity of void marriage may be

filed solely by the husband or the wife. This means that a trial
court has no jurisdiction to nullify marriages in a special
proceeding for cancellation or correction of entry under
Rule 108 of the Rules of Court. Thus, the validity of
marriage can be questioned only in a direct action to nullify
the marriage.[8]
However, the Supreme Court, in Niñal vs. Bayadog,[9] made a
pronouncement that a void marriage can be attacked
collaterally. In said case, the father of petitioners (FOP)
was married to the mother of petitioners (MOP) on
September 26, 1974. MOP was shot by FOP resulting in
her death on April 24, 1985. One year and 8 months
thereafter or on December 11, 1986, FOP and respondent
got married without any marriage license. In lieu thereof,
FOP and respondent executed an affidavit dated December
11, 1986 stating that they had lived together as husband
and wife for at least five years and were thus exempt from
securing a marriage license. On February 19, 1997, FOP
died in a car accident. After FOP's death, petitioners filed a
petition for declaration of nullity of the marriage of FOP to
respondent alleging that the said marriage was void for
lack of a marriage license. Respondent filed a motion to
dismiss on the ground that petitioners have no cause of
action since they are not among the persons who could file
an action for “annulment of marriage.” The Supreme Court,
in granting the petition, ruled that for other purposes, such
as but not limited to determination of heirship, legitimacy
or illegitimacy of a child, settlement of estate, dissolution of
property regime, or a criminal case for that matter, the
court may pass upon the validity of marriage even in a suit
not directly instituted to question the same so long as it is
essential to the determination of the case.

_______________
[8]  Braza vs. The City Civil Registrar of Himamaylan City, Negros
Occidental, 607 SCRA 638 (2009), cited in Fujiki vs. Marinay, G.R. No.
196049, June 26, 2013, 700 SCRA 69.
[9] G.R. No. 133778, March 14, 2000, 328 SCRA 122.

760

Similarly, in the Olaybar case, the Supreme Court

seemed to have classified the “Petition for Cancellation of
Entries in the Marriage Contract” before the RTC pursuant
to Rule 108 of the Rules of Court filed not as a direct action
when it stated that “[r]espondent indeed sought, not the
nullification of marriage as there was no marriage to speak of, but
the correction of the record of such marriage to reflect the truth as
set forth by the evidence. Otherwise stated, in allowing the
correction of the subject certificate of marriage by cancelling the
wife portion thereof, the trial court did not, in any way, declare the
marriage void as there was no marriage to speak of.”
 
§ 5.    Recognition of Foreign Judgment
Rule 108 creates a remedy to rectify facts of a person’s
life which are recorded by the State pursuant to the Civil
Register Law or Act No. 3753. In the Olaybar case, the
RTC simply cancelled or corrected he entries in the
marriage contract that are false especially regarding the
identity of one of the parties to show the inexistence of the
marriage.
Similarly, in Fujiki vs. Marinay,[10] the Supreme Court ruled
that a husband or wife of a prior marriage can file a petition
to recognize a foreign judgment nullifying the subsequent
marriage between his or her spouse and a foreign citizen on
the ground of bigamy.
Since the recognition of a foreign judgment only requires
proof of fact of the judgment, it may be made in a special
proceeding for cancellation or correction of entries in the
civil registry under Rule 108 of the Rules of Court. Rule 1,
Section 3 of the Rules of Court provides that “[a] special
proceeding is a remedy by which a party seeks to establish
a status, a right, or a particular fact.” These are facts of
public consequence

_______________
[10] G.R. No. 196049, June 26, 2013, 700 SCRA 69.

761

such as birth, death or marriage,[11] which the State has an

interest in recording. Thus, 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. [12]
 
§ 6.  Correction of Entries Re Fictitious Marriages
Usually in Birth Certificates
The Olaybar case is unique in that the Supreme Court
allowed a “Petition for Correction or Cancellation of
Entries” pursuant to Rule 108 of the Rules of Court to
correct or cancel the entry in a registered marriage contract
on the ground that the marriage was fictitious. Previous
Rule 108 proceedings correcting entries in the civil register
involving fictitious marriages have been upheld by the
Supreme Court only in relation to references of the
fictitious marriages found in other registered documents
such as birth certificates.[13] 

_______________
[11] Act No. 3753, Sec. 1. Civil Register.—A civil register is
established for recording the civil status of persons, in which shall be
entered: (a) births; (b) deaths; (c) marriages; (d) annulments of marriages;
(e) divorces; (f) legitimations; (g) adoptions; (h) acknowledgment of natural
children; (i) naturalization; and (j) changes of name.
Cf. RULES OF COURT, Rule 108, Sec. 2. Entries subject to cancellation or
correction.—Upon good and valid grounds, the following entries in the civil
register may be cancelled or corrected: (a) births; (b) marriages; (c) deaths;
(d) legal separations; (e) judgments of annulments of marriage; (f)
judgments declaring marriages void from the beginning; (g) legitimations;
(h) adoptions; (i) acknowledgments of natural children; (j) naturalization;
(k) election, loss or recovery of citizenship; (1) civil interdiction; (m)
judicial determination of filiation; (n) voluntary emancipation of a minor;
and (o) changes of name.
[12] Corpuz vs. Sto. Tomas, 628 SCRA 266 (2010), cited in Fujiki vs.
Marinay, G.R. No. 196049, June 26, 2013, 700 SCRA 69.
[13] See the following cases: Labayo-Rowe vs. Republic, No. L-53417,
December 8, 1988, 168 SCRA 294; Republic vs Lim, G.R. No.

762

To illustrate, the following are the undisputed facts in Republic

vs. Kho:[14]

On February 12, 2001, Carlito and his siblings Michael, Mercy

Nona and Heddy Moira filed before the RTC of Butuan City a
verified petition for correction of entries in the civil registry of
Butuan City to effect changes in their respective birth certificates.
Carlito also asked the court in behalf of his minor children, Kevin
and Kelly, to order the correction of some entries in their birth
certificates.
In the case of Carlito, he requested the correction in his birth
certificate of the citizenship of his mother to “Filipino” instead of
“Chinese,” as well as the deletion of the word “married” opposite
the phrase “Date of marriage of parents” because his parents,
Juan Kho and Epifania Inchoco (Epifania), were allegedly not
legally married.
The same request to delete the “married” status of their
parents from their respective birth certificates was made by
Carlito’s siblings Michael, Mercy Nona, and Heddy Moira.
With respect to the birth certificates of Carlito’s children, he
prayed that the date of his and his wife's marriage be corrected
from April 27, 1989 to January 21, 2000, the date appearing in
their marriage certificate.

 
The Supreme Court allowed the correction of the entry
of the birth certificates of Carlito I. Kho and his siblings
Michael, Mercy Nona, and Heddy Moira because the entry
under “Date of marriage of parents” shows that their
parents

_______________
153883, January 13, 2004, 419 SCRA 123; Republic vs. Benemerito, G.R. No.
146963, March 15, 2004, 425 SCRA 488; Alba vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No.
164041, July 29, 2005, 465 SCRA 495; Republic vs. Kho, G.R. No. 170340,
June 29, 2007, 526 SCRA 177; and Republic vs. Coseteng-Magpayo, G.R. No.
189476, February 2, 2011, 641 SCRA 533.
[14] G.R. No. 170340, June 29, 2007, 526 SCRA 177.

763

(Juan Kho and Epifania Inchoco) were “married” when in

truth they were never factually married; the Supreme
Court also allowed the correction of entry of the birth
certificates of Carlito’s children Kevin and Kelly Dogmoc
Kho because his children’s birth certificates shows that
Carlito and his wife were married on April 27, 1989 but
they were not factually married at this time and were only
married on January 21, 2000.
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