This document discusses citizenship in the Philippines, including definitions, rights, roles, and issues. It defines citizenship as a relationship between the individual and state involving reciprocal rights and duties. It outlines the rights of citizens under the Philippine constitution, including natural rights, constitutional rights, and statutory rights. It discusses who qualifies as a Philippine citizen, including those who were citizens at the time the current constitution was adopted and those who become naturalized citizens. It also examines two key issues - whether actor Fernando Poe Jr. qualified as a natural-born citizen in his 2004 presidential run, and the Supreme Court's conclusion that he did based on the citizenship of his grandfather.

1. CITIZENSHIP
Definition
Roles
Issues

2. ICEBREAKER!

3. DEFINITION
How is it to be a Filipino
citizen?
Effective citizen

4. HOW IS IT TO BE A FILIPINO
CITIZEN
Andrew Heywood, in Key Concepts of Politics (2000), defines citzenship as
such:
A relationship between the individual and state, in which the two are bound
together by reciprocal rights and duties.
“Citizens” vs “Subjects” and “Aliens”
* Citizens are full members of their political community by virtue of
possession of basic rights.
* Citizenship is linked to liberalism: private entitlement and status of the
individual as an autonomous actor

5. RIGHTS OF A CITIZEN
* Natural Rights
 Inherent to man as a human being (love, be happy)
* Constitutional Rights
 Rights guaranteed under fundamental charter of country (Bill of Rights: Article III, Philippine
Constitution)
 Rights against unreasonable searches and seizures, rights safeguarding the accused
* Statutory Rights
 Rights provided by lawmaking body
 Right to receive minimum wage, right to preliminary investigation

6. BILL OF RIGHTS
Article III, Phil. Constitution: Bill of Rights
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of
the law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.
Article XIV: Right to education
Article XII: Right to social justice
Article II: Right to health
Government duty: ensure that the rights of the individual are properly
balanced against government powers in a way that will bring the greatest
good to the greatest number or redound to the public good (De Leon, H., De
Leon Jr., H., 2010)

7. EFFECTIVE CITIZENSHIP
All citizens must play a role in nation building.
Article II, Section 13: Role of the Youth
* Youth constitute the biggest sector in the Philippines today
* better-educated, more politically aware
* Involvement in public and civic affairs
* Government’s duty: to promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual,
intellectual and social well-being; inculcate patriotism and nationalism;
educate the youth

8. EFFECTIVE CITIZENSHIP
All citizens must play a role in nation building.
Article II, Section 14: Role of Women
* For the longest time women have joined men in the fight for freedom
* Government’s duty: to ensure equality between women and men (e.g. in
opportunities for employment, pursuit of business, etc.)

9. ROLES Constraints
Who is a Filipino Citizen?

10. WHO ARE PHILIPPINE
CITIZENS UNDER THE
PRESENT CONSTITUTION?
The 1987 Constitution, Article IV, Section 1 provides:
Section 1. The following are citizens of the Philippines:
Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this Constitution;
Those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines;
Those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine
citizenship upon reaching the age of majority; and
Those who are naturalized in accordance of law.

11. WHO IS A NATURAL-BORN
FILIPINO CITIZEN?
Natural-born citizens are those who are citizens from birth without having to
perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship. Those who
elect Philippine citizenship in accordance with the Constitution shall be
deemed natural-born citizens.

12. WHAT ARE THE MODES OF
ACQUIRING CITIZENSHIP?
There are two (2) generally recognized modes of acquiring Philippine
citizenship, namely:
1) by birth; and
Jus soli (right of soil) which is the legal principle that a person's nationality at birth is
determined by the place of birth (ie, the territory of a given state).
Jus sanguinis (right of blood) which is the legal principle that, at birth, an individual acquires
the nationality of his/her natural parent/s. The Philippines adheres to this principle.
2) by naturalization which is the judicial act of adopting a foreigner and
clothing him with the privileges of a native-born citizen. It implies the
renunciation of a former nationality and the fact of entrance into a similar
relation towards a new body politic. (2 Am.Jur.561, par.188)

13. WHAT ARE THE BASES OF
ACQUIRING CITIZENSHIP?
There are 3 bases for acquiring citizenship by birth, namely:
1) Jus soli (right of soil) which is the legal principle that a person's nationality
at birth is determined by the place of birth (ie, the territory of a given state).
2) Jus sanguinis (right of blood) which is the legal principle that, at birth, an
individual acquires the nationality of his/her natural parent/s. The Philippines
adheres to this principle;
3) Naturalization which is the judicial act of adopting a foreigner and
clothing him with the privileges of a native-born citizen. It implies the
renunciation of a former nationality and the fact of entrance into a similar
relation towards a new body politic. (2 Am.Jur.561, par.188)

14. WHO MAY QUALIFY AS
PHILIPPINE CITIZEN BY
NATURALIZATION UNDER THE
REVISED NATURALIZATION
ACT?Under Section 2 of the Revised Naturalization Law the applicant must
possess the following qualifications:
He must not be less than twenty-one years of age on the day of the hearing
of the petition;
He must have resided in the Philippines for a continuous period of not less
than ten years;
He 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 his residence in
the Philippines in his relation with the constituted government as well as with
the community in which he is living;

15. He must 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;
He must be able to speak or write English or Spanish or anyone of the
principal languages;
He must have enrolled his minor children of school age in any of the public
or private schools recognized by the Bureau of Public Schools of the
Philippines where 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 him prior to the hearing of the
petition for naturalization as Philippine citizen;

16. WHO ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO
APPLY FOR NATURALIZATION
OF THE REVISED
NATURALIZATION LAW?Under Section of 4 of the Revised Naturalization Law, the following persons
cannot qualify for Philippine citizenship:
Persons opposed to organized government or affiliated with any association
or group of persons who uphold and teach doctrines opposing all organized
governments;
Persons defending or teaching the necessity or propriety of violence,
personal assault, or assassination for the success and predominance of their
ideas;
Polygamists or believers in the practice of polygamy;

17. Persons convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude;
Persons suffering from mental alienation or incurable contagious diseases;
Persons who during the period of their stay 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;
Citizens or subjects of nations with whom the Philippines is at war
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 subject
thereof;

18. ISSUES
FPJ elections
Mayor Lim

19. FPJ 2004 ELECTIONS
On 31 December 2003, respondent Ronald Allan Kelly Poe, also known as
Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ), filed his certificate of candidacy for the position of
President of the Republic of the Philippines for the May 2004 national
elections under the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) Party. In his
certificate of candidacy, FPJ represented himself to be a natural-born citizen
of the Philippines.
Various petitioners sought to disqualify FPJ in his bid for the presidency on
the contention that he made a material misrepresentation in his certificate of
candidacy by claiming to be a natural-born Filipino citizen when in truth, his
parents were foreigners; his mother an American and his father, a Spanish
national since his father was the son of Lorenzo Pou, who was a Spanish
subject.

20. WAS FPJ A CITIZEN?
The death certificate of Lorenzo Pou would indicate that he died on 11 September 1954, at
the age of 84 years old, in San Carlos, Pangasinan. It could thus be assumed that Lorenzo
Pou was born sometime in the year 1870 when the Philippines was still a colony of Spain.
Petitioner argued that Lorenzo Pou was not in the Philippines during the crucial period of from
1898 to 1902 considering that there was no existing record about such fact in the Records
Management and Archives Office. Petitioner, however, likewise failed to show that Lorenzo
Pou was at any other place during the same period. In his death certificate, the residence of
Lorenzo Pou was stated to be San Carlos, Pangasinan. In the absence of any evidence to
the contrary, the Court presumed that the residence of the person at the time of his death was
also his residence before death. In fact, it would be extremely doubtful if the Records
Management and Archives Office had complete records of all residents of the Philippines
from 1898 to 1902.
Thus, the Supreme Court concluded that if Lorenzo Pou is assumed to be in the Philippines
in 11 April 1891, being a Spanish subject who continued to reside in the Philippines without
preserving his allegiance to the Crown of Spain, then he was converted to a Filipino citizen in
accordance with the Philippine Bill of 1902. Lorenzo Pou now being a Filipino, Allan Poe is
also a Filipino upon birth and Fernando Poe Jr. is likewise held to be a natural-born Filipino in

21. ON LEGITIMACY
The Convention on the Rights of the Child was also used as basis in this case since it abolished
all discriminations on account of “birth or other status.” The Convention protects in the most
comprehensive way all rights of children: political rights, civil rights, social rights, economic rights
and cultural rights. A violation of one right is considered a violation of the other rights. It also
embraced the rule that all actions of a State concerning the child should consider the “best
interests” of the child. This was, however, attacked by Justice Carpio in his dissent by stating
that FPJ cannot invoke the Convention since he is no longer a child when the convention was
ratified in the Philippines in September 1990 and, thus, has no retroactive effect. Moreover, he
stated that the Convention has the status of a municipal law and its ratification could not have
amended the express requirement in the Constitution that only natural-born citizens of the
Philippines are qualified to be President. He further noted that the Convention does not
guarantee a child a citizenship at birth, but merely “the right to acquire a nationality” in
accordance with municipal law. When FPJ was born in 1939, he was apparently under United
States law an American citizen at birth. After his birth FPJ also had the right to acquire Philippine
citizenship by proving his filiations to his alleged Filipino father in accordance with Philippine law.
At no point in time was FPJ in danger of being stateless. Clearly, FPJ cannot invoke the
Convention to claim he is a natural-born Philippine citizen.
The majority opinion and the dissenting opinions also discussed the concepts derived from the
Civil Code in relation to this issue. However, this was not given great weight by the Court since
the distinctions between legitimacy and illegitimacy codified in the Civil Code should remain only
in the sphere of civil law and not unduly impede or infringe on the domain of political law.

22. MAYOR LIM
Two birth certificates bearing the name of Alfredo Siojo Lim born on
December 21, 1929 in Manuguit Maternity and Children’s Hospital indicate
different nationalities of Lim’s parents.
In one document, Lim’s father and namesake Alfredo Lim was identified as a
Chinese mestizo born in Binondo, Manila. His mother on the other hand,
Rosario Siojo, was identified as a Chinese merchant, born in San Miguel,
Bulacan.
In the said document, the spaces provided for date of registry and registry
number were left blank.
In what appears to be another birth certificate, both Lim’s parents were
described as Filipinos. The birth certificate was registered on March 31,
1951, when Lim was already a young adult at 21 years old. It also bears the
Registry Number 1498, and is stamped with “Late Registration.”

23. HOT TOPIC . . . MAY 10, 2013
The citizenship of reelectionist Mayor Alfredo Lim has once more been put in question, but on
Friday he dared his challenger, former President Joseph Estrada, to prove he is an alien or
quit the mayoral race.
In a statement sent to reporters, Estrada evoked confidence he could beat his estranged
friend and former Cabinet appointee, whom he claimed is haunted by a controversy on his
citizenship, being the offspring of alleged Chinese parents.
"The majority of voters are still very much in doubt whether he is a Filipino or not. Unless this
is settled, he can never get the full support of the Manileños who want a true Filipino mayor in
heart and in commitment to service,” Estrada said.
Lim could be liable for falsification of public documents, a criminal offense, according to
Estrada. But he said he has no plans of filing a disqualification case before the courts anytime
soon for lack of time.
"I want the people to be the ones to disqualify him by not reelecting him. I’m not like him, who
thrice filed disqualification cases against me---in the Comelec, the regional trial court and
the Sandiganbayan. All of those were dismissed,” Estrada said, speaking in Filipino.

24.  http://immigration.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=vi
ew&id=206&Itemid=80
 http://www.angelfire.com/art3/consti_citizen/Tecson.htm
 http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/307614/news/metromanil
a/up-law-s-roque-contests-mayor-lim-s-filipino-citizenship
 http://www.interaksyon.com/article/61433/manila-race--citizenship-
hounds-lim-who-dares-erap-to-prove-hes-alien-or-quit-race