MAY A DECLARATION OF PHILIPPINE CITIZENSHIP BE MADE IN APETITION FOR A NATURALIZATION?

In Comm. of Immigration v. Garci, L-28082, June 28, 1974, the Supreme Court held that the
court, in a petition for naturalization, cannot make a declaration that the applicant is already a Filipino
citizen for the reason that in this jurisdiction, there can be no independent action for the judicial
declaration of one's citizenship. Courts of justice exist only for the settlement of justiciable
controversies, which imply a given right, legally demandable and enforceable, an act or omission
violative of said right, and a legal remedy for the breach of said right.

MAY A DECLARATION OF PHILIPPINE CITIZENSHIP BE MADE IN A SPECIAL PROCEEDING FOR CORRECTION

OF ENTRY IN THE CIVIL REGISTRY UNDER RULE 108 OF THE RULES OF COURT?

Yes, if all procedural requirements of Rule 108 are followed and all persons with interest in the
wrong entry had been notified and a full blown trial is held, the proceedings are no longer summary but
adverserial, and substantial errors like citizenship can already be corrected under Rule 108.

WHAT IS A PERSON`S PERSONAL LAW

A person`s personal law may be defined as that which attaches to him wherever he may go, the
law that generally governs his status, capacity, condition, family relations, and the consequences of his
actuations.

It may be his national law, the law of his domicile, or the law of the situs of the event or
transaction wherein he was involved, depending on the theory applied and enforced in the form.

DISTINGUISH STATUS FROM CAPACITY?

Status is the place of an individual in society, and consists of personal qualities and relationships,
more or less permanent, with which the state and the community are concerned. It includes the civil
status of a person, his paternity and filiation, whether he is a minor or has reached the age of majority,
whether he has the capacity to enter into various transactions.

Capacity is only part of one`s status, and may be defined as the sum total of his rights and
obligations.

WHAT ARE THE TWO KINDS OF CAPACITY? EXPLAIN.

1. Juridical Capacity (Passive Capacity) is the fitness to be the subject of legal
relations

2. Capactiy to Act (Active Capacity) is the power to do acts with legal effects.