TO: Ms.

Jane Doe Roxas

FROM: BBCCH Quasi-Law Office

DATE: December 4, 2010

RE: Acquisition of Property and Citizenship

Facts:

These are reiteration of facts based on the information that you have provided for this
firm. Ms. Jane Doe Roxas you were born of a Spanish couple in Spain. Your parents brought you
to the Philippines when you were but a baby. You were then raised in the country until you were
thirteen years old. Around that age you just finished your elementary education in a duly
accredited educational institution. After graduating you went back to Spain and stayed there ever
since. You were separated from some of your siblings who decided to continue residing in the
country and who were later naturalized. In one of your short vacations in the country, you
became interested in a certain property that is currently being owned by your brother.

Assumptions Made:

The following facts to be mentioned are assumptions that the firm has made stemming
from obvious, implied, logical or unverified information about you. If they are erroneous, or
inexact please inform the firm immediately as these are pertinent information about you. (1) It is
assumed that you are of legal age and that you have resided in the Philippines for at least 5 years.
(2) Having spent your childhood in the country, and having been educated by an accredited
institution, it is assumed that you have learned to read and write in the English and Filipino
language. (3) You went back to Spain afterwards so it is also presumed that you continued you
education enabling you to learn Spanish. (4) It is assumed that you completed tertiary education.
(5) It is also assumed that you have substantial amount of properties or a lucrative profession that
would be sufficient enough to support your life in the country. (6) It is assumed that you have not
been involved in any scandal or controversy which ruined or may ruin your reputation and good
moral character. (7) It is finally assumed that you have not suffered from any of the
disqualification mentioned in the discussions yet.
Question Presented:

(1) May you obtain Filipino Citizenship?

(2) May you acquire the real property of your brother?

Answer:

(1) Yes. You may acquire Filipino citizenship through the process of naturalization. Such
a process allows foreign nationals to become naturalized Filipino citizens subject to
the qualifications provided by existing laws.
(2) No. Foreigners are not allowed to acquire properties

Discussion and Analysis:

Naturalization

Ms. Roxas, you may become a Filipino citizen through naturalization. This is a process
by which a foreigner acquires, voluntary or by operation of law, the citizenship of another state.1
The process of naturalization may be instituted by way of direct naturalization or derivative
naturalization. We shall limit the discussion to direct naturalization as this would entail lesser
burden upon you. The process that is about to be suggested to you is one done through a
individual proceeding, which involves some court hearings. The other methods of naturalization
would involve you being adopted, or when you marry a naturalized or a national. The firm will
simply discuss this upon your request.

Based on the facts you relayed to the firm, the law applicable to the subject of your query
is “The Revised Naturalization Act”. Under the existing jurisprudence, a foreigner (that’s you),
can be a naturalized Filipino citizen provided that you meet all the qualifications and none of the
disqualifications mentioned under the said Act.

1
Cruz, Isagani A. Constitutional Law, 2007 Updated Ed., p. 380.
 Enumerated below are the substantive requirements of the law on naturalization and
acquisition of Filipino citizenship found on Section 2 of Commonwealth Act 473. Simply stated
these are the qualifications: (1) You must be not less than twenty-one years of age on the day of
the hearing of the petition; (2) You must have resided in the Philippines for a continuous period
of not less than ten years; (3) You must be of good moral character and believes in the principles
underlying the Philippine Constitution, and must have conducted himself in a proper and
irreproachable manner during the entire period of your residence in the Philippines in your
relation with the constituted government as well as with the community in which you are living.

It is also important that (4) you own real estate in the Philippines worth not less than five
thousand pesos, Philippine currency, or must have some known lucrative trade, profession, or
lawful occupation; (5) You must be able to speak and write English or Spanish and any one of
the principal Philippine languages; and lastly (6) You must have enrolled your minor children of
school age, in any of the public schools or private schools recognized by the Office of Private
Education of the Philippines, where the Philippine history, government and civics are taught or
prescribed as part of the school curriculum, during the entire period of the residence in the
Philippines required of you prior to the hearing of your petition for naturalization as Philippine
citizen.

As for the third qualification, the firm assumed that you have not been involved in any
scandal or controversy which can ruin your reputation and good moral character. The good moral
character requirement is jurisdictional to the petition as stated in the case of Mo Yuen Tsi v.
Republic2; the phrase morally irreproachable is not satisfied by mere good or even good conduct,
because the law requires a moral character of the highest order, an excellent order, and an
excellent one.

The fourth qualification is also crucial and I assume that you have substantial amount of
properties or a lucrative profession that would support your life in the Philippines. As the case of
Te Eng Ling v. Republic3 mentioned the pertinent decision of Swee Din Tan v. Republic, wherein
the court said: "We find a sounder reason to refuse citizenship; no lucrative employment. It is
admitted that Swee Din Tan, with a wife and three children, is a mere employee receiving
P200.00 a month only. We think that at the present valuation of the peso, petitioner may have an
employment; but he has not a 'lucrative' employment.

These qualifications simply ascertain your capacity, intention and capability to become a
Filipino citizen. This was enumerated not simply to protect the interests of the state, but mainly
to protect you as well from future problems that you may have overlooked. For example learning
at least one of the languages required is very important in your naturalization. This is to help or
enable you to communicate to the people around you when you begin to stay in the country.
Needless to say the absence of one may be result to an inquiry by the respective authorities and
may be used to hinder your naturalization. You must therefore satisfy all the required
qualifications before you can file your petition for naturalization. You must show proof that you
resided in the Philippines for at least ten years before you can file your petition for
naturalization. (Section 3 of C.A. No. 473 par. 5).

Since the provisions for disqualification are beyond what is normally presumed from a
typical, ordinary or average citizen, the firm has made an assumption that you have not
committed any of them. However, just to inform you as well, the following are the reasons that
may disqualify you from Section 4 of the same Act discusses the disqualifications which you
must not posses in order to be a naturalized Filipino citizen.

(1) Persons opposed to organized government or affiliated with any

association or group of persons who uphold and teach doctrines opposing all
organized governments;
(2) Persons defending or teaching the necessity or propriety of violence,
personal assault, or assassination for the success and predominance of their
ideas;
(3) Polygamists or believers in the practice of polygamy;
(4) Persons convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude;
(5) Persons suffering from mental alienation or incurable contagious
diseases;
 (6) Persons who, during the period of their residence in the Philippines, have
not mingled socially with the Filipinos, or who have not evinced a sincere
desire to learn and embrace the customs, traditions, and ideals of the
Filipinos;
(7) Citizens or subjects of nations with whom the United States and the
Philippines are at war, during the period of such war;
(8) Citizens or subjects of a foreign country other than the United
States whose laws do not grant Filipinos the right to become naturalized
citizens or subjects thereof.2

With all the foregoing law, jurisprudence and statement of facts it is clear that you are not yet
qualified to be naturalized as a Filipino citizen. What you lack is the continuous residency of 10
years in the country. At certain events the Courts upon their discretion allow foreigners to be
naturalized despite certain want of qualifications. It has been decreed that the absence of all the
disqualifications is sufficient.

Acquisition

Ms. Roxas, as you are a Spanish national and unqualified to be naturalized because of
reasons mentioned above, you cannot acquire the real property of your brother except through
hereditary succession and if you are the legal heir of your brother. This is in accordance with
Section 7, Article XII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution3.

Also in Matthews vs. Taylor and Taylor, G.R. No. 164584, 22 June 2009, the court ruled that
the right to acquire lands of public domain is reserved only to Filipino citizens or corporations at
least sixty percent of the capital of which is owned by Filipinos. Aliens, whether individuals or
corporations, have been disqualified from acquiring public lands; hence they have been
disqualified from acquiring private lands4.

2
Section 4, Commonwealth Act No. 473.
31
Section 7, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution states that “Save in cases of hereditary succession, no private lands
shall be transferred or conveyed except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold
lands of the public domain.”
 However, you may acquire condominium units if you are a holder of a Special Resident
Retiree’s Visa5. This visa entitles the holder to multiple-entry privileges with the right to
permanent residence in the Philippines and it is issued by the Bureau of Immigration of the
Republic of the Philippines under the Retirement Program of the Philippine Retirement
Authority for foreigners and expatriate or overseas-based Filipinos.6

Recommendation:
It is recommended that you take time in trying to settle in the country first prior to your
filing for naturalization. This is the common practice amongst foreigners. You currently cannot
file for naturalization since the residency period requires that you stay in the country for a
continued span of 10

++ we can assume client has stayed in the country for quite some time now and is able to
file for acquisition already.
++

4
Ong Ching Po v. Court of Appeals, GR No. 113472, 20 December 1994, 239 SCRA 341
5
http://www.mabinay.com/philippines-retirement-visa.htm
6
Bureau of Immigration Manual: Guidelines on Policies and Procedures for Immigration Officers and Other
Officials (Volume 1).