X.

Ex post facto laws and bills of attainder

1. Kinds of ex post facto laws
1. Law making an act criminal which was not so before its passage
2. Law aggravating the penalty for a crime committed before its passage
3. Law inflicting a greater or more severe penalty
4. Law altering the legal rules of evidence and allowing the receipt of less or
different testimony than what the law required at the time of commission
5. Law assuming to regulate civil rights and remedies only, in effect imposes a
penalty of deprivation of right for something which when done was lawful
6. Law depriving accused of some lawful protection to which he had been entitled
2. Characteristics of ex post facto laws
1. Refers to criminal matters
1. Applies to criminal procedural laws
2. Retroactive
3. Prejudicial to the accused
3. Bill of attainder is an act that inflicts punishment without trial

VIII. CITIZENSHIP

A. Who are Filipino citizens

1. Under the 1987 Constitution
1. Citizens at the time of the adoption of the 1987 Constitution
2. Fathers or mothers are citizens
1. The father or mother may be a natural-born Filipino or a Filipino by
naturalization or by election. The only important consideration here was
that the mother must be a Filipino at the time of the birth of the child
3. Born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine
Citizenship upon reaching the age of majority
1. This refers to those born under the 1935 Constitution
4. Naturalized
2. Under the 1973 Constitution
1. At the time of adoption
2. Fathers or mothers are citizens
1. The father or mother may be a natural-born Filipino or a Filipino by
naturalization or by election. The only important consideration here was
that the mother must be a Filipino at the time of the birth of the child
3. Elect pursuant to the 1935 Constitution
4. Naturalized
3. Under the 1935 Constitution
1. At the time of the adoption. Those who are citizens pursuant to the Phil. Bill of
1902. En Masse Filipinization of all Spanish subjects
1. If he was 1) a subject of Spain on 11 April 1899, 2) residing in the
Philippines on said date, and, 3) since that date, not a citizen of some other
country
2. Elected before to Public Office
3. Fathers are citizen
 4. Mothers are citizen but elect upon majority
1. Only refers to legitimate children, wherein mother is Filipino but father
is alien. If illegitimate, he follows the citizenship of the mother, hence, he
is a Filipino citizen
2. It is enough that the mother is Filipino upon marriage
3. The election may be implied through voting
4. Election must be within 3 years after reaching 21 unless there is
reasonable delay
5. Election is expressed in a statement and sworn to by the party before
any official authorized to administer oaths. Statement to be filed with the
nearest Civil Registry with Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution and the
Government of the Philippines
6. The omission of the statutory requirement of registration of the
documents of election should not result in the obliteration of the right to
Philippine citizenship. It does not negate the permanent fact that the
mother is Filipino. The lacking requirements may still be complied with
subject to the imposition of appropriate administrative penalties
5. Naturalized
4. Citizenship of foundlings
1. Section 2 of 1961 International Convention- Under Art. 2 of the 1961
International Convention on Statelessness, “[a] foundling found in the territory of
a Contracting State shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be considered to
have been born within the territory of parents possessing the nationality of that
State”
2. Philippines is not a signatory or a “Contracting State” in this treaty. However,
the treaty possesses the two elements of a generally accepted principle of
international law because the grant of nationality to a foundling is an “established,
widespread and consistent practice” of many states since 1961 to the present
3. 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), to which the
Philippines is a signatory and which our Supreme Court has consistently enforced,
“Everyone has a right to a nationality.” Thus, a denial of nationality or citizenship
to Senator Poe would be a plain violation of the UDHR
4. Principle of Effective Nationality. The question arises, who then had the power
to grant Nottebohm diplomatic protection? It would be the nationality of the
country in which he is habitually and principally resident or the nationality of the
country with which in the circumstances he appears to be in fact most closely
connected
B. Modes of acquiring citizenship
1. By birth
1. Jus sanguinis
2. Jus soli
2. By naturalization
3. By marriage
C. Naturalization and denaturalization
1. Congressional naturalization
2. Judicial naturalization
 1. In accordance to CA 473 and RA 530
3. Administrative naturalization
1. In accordance to RA 9139
2. It applies to those born in the Philippines
4. Also by virtue of derivative citizenship through CA 473, RA 9139, RA 9255
1. Lost if certificate is cancelled due to intrinsic validity
2. According to Mo Ya Lim Yao v. Commissioner of Immigration, 41 SCRA 292,
under Section 15 of the Revised Naturalization Law, a foreign woman who
marries a Filipino citizen becomes a Filipino citizen provided she possesses none
of the disqualifications for naturalization. A foreign man who marries a Filipino
citizen does not acquire Philippine citizenship. However, under Section 3 of the
Revised Naturalization Act, in such a case the residence requirement for
naturalization will be reduced from ten (10) to five (5) years
5. It may be cancelled but only by the State through direct proceeding. A certificate of
naturalization may be cancelled at any time if it was fraudulently obtained by misleading
the court regarding the moral character of the petitioner
D. Dual citizenship and dual allegiance
1. Citizenship retention under RA 9255
1. But this does not allow dual allegiance because of the oath
2. No law with regard to dual allegiance. Not self-executory
3. Dual citizenship by birth pursuant to jus soli
4. Filipino citizen who marries an alien retains his/her citizenship, unless by his/her act or
omission he/she is deemed, under the law to have renounced it
5. Can be renounced by filing a COC but this only applies to dual citizens by birth or by
operation of law such as marriage to a foreigner. Otherwise, the mere filing of the
certificate of candidacy is not sufficient. Section 5 of RA 9225 categorically requires the
individual to state in clear and unequivocal terms that he is renouncing all foreign
citizenship
6. Dual citizens by naturalization are required to take not only the oath of allegiance to
the Republic, but also to personally renounce foreign citizenship in order to qualify as
candidate for public office. If after he had renounced his foreign citizenship, he should
still use his foreign passport, he is divested of his Filipino citizenship. However, by
representing himself as a foreign citizen, he voluntarily and effectively reverted to his
status as a dual citizen. Such reversion is not retroactive - it takes place the moment he
represents himself as a foreign citizen by using his foreign passport. As dual citizen, he is
qualified to vote, but by express disqualification under Sec. 40(d) of the LGC, he is not
qualified to run for a local elective office
E. Loss and re-acquisition of Philippine citizenship
1. Citizenship is lost pursuant to CA 36
1. Naturalization to a foreign country
2. Express renunciation
3. Subscribing to oath of allegiance to a foreign country
1. A Filipino may not divest himself of Philippine citizenship in any
manner while the Republic of the Philippines is at war with any country
4. Rendering service to the armed forces of a foreign country and taking oath of
allegiance
 5. Cancellation of certificate of naturalization
6. Deserter of the armed forces in times of war
2. Repatriation through RA 8171, PD 725 in the Special Committee on Naturalization
and take oath. Then register to LCR and Bureau of Immigration. Otherwise, repatriation
is ineffectual
1. Applicable to women who lost their citizenship due to marriage and natural
born citizens who lost their citizenship for some reason and due to political and
economic necessity
2. Retroacts to the time of filing
3. The repatriation of a mother entitle her minor son to a declaration that he is
entitled to Philippine citizenship
3. Reacquisition under RA 9255
1. Natural-born citizens of the Philippines who had lost their Philippine
citizenship by reason of their naturalization as citizens of a foreign country would
be deemed to have re-acquired Philippine citizenship upon taking an oath of
allegiance to the Republic, and that their children whether legitimate, illegitimate
or adopted, below eighteen (18) years of age, shall be deemed citizens of the
Philippines
2. Shirley will not become a Filipino citizen, because under Republic Act No.
9225, Warlito’s reacquisition of Philippine citizenship did not extend its benefits
to Shirley. She should instead file with the Bureau of Immigration a petition for
the cancellation of her alien certificate of registration on the ground that in
accordance with Section 15 of the Naturalization Law, because of her marriage to
Warlito, she should be deemed to have become a Filipino citizen. She must allege
and prove that she possesses none of the disqualifications to become a naturalized
Filipino citizen
F. Natural-born citizens and public office
1. 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
2. Includes repatriation of former natural born citizens