CITIZENSHIP

ARTICLE IV

1. Citizenship
It denotes membership in a political community, which is personal and more or
less permanent in character. (In Re Petition for Habeas Corpus of Willie Yu vs
Miriam Defensor-Santiago)
A citizen of a state is one who owes allegiance to it and is correspondingly
entitled to its protection.

CITIZENSHIP NATIONALITY

A term denoting membership of a citizen in a
political society, which membership implies,
reciprocally, a duty of allegiance on the part
of the member and duty of protection on the
part of the state.
It has broader meaning, embracing all who
owe allegiance to a state, whether
democratic or not, without thereby becoming
citizens. Because they owe allegiance to it,
they are not regarded as aliens.

2. Who are Filipino Citizens?

a. Those who are Filipino citizens at the time of the adoption of the 1987 Constitution:
i. Those who are citizens under the Treaty of Paris;
ii. Those declared citizens by judicial declaration applying the jus soli principle.
iii. Those who are naturalized in accordance with law.
iv. Those who are citizens under the 1935 Constitution.
v. Those who are citizens under the 1973 Constitution.
b. Those whose fathers or mothers are Filipino citizens
c. Those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine
citizenship upon reaching the age of majority.
d. Those naturalized in accordance with law. (Sec. 1, Art. IV, 1987 Constitution)

The citizenship of Fernando Poe, Jr.

FPJ was illegitimately born on Aug 20, 1939 to a Filipino father and an American
mother.
To disqualify an illegitimate child from holding an important public office is to
punish him for the indiscretion of parents.
The 1935 Constitution, during which regime FPJ had seen first light, confers
citizenship to all persons whose fathers are Filipino citizens regardless of
whether such children are legitimate or illegitimate. (Tecson vs. Comelec, March
3, 2004)

Poe-Lanzamares vs Comelec
That same year, there were 245,740 Filipino males as against only 1,165 make
male aliens or 99.53%. COMELEC did not dispute these figures.
Notably, Commissioner Arthur Lim admitted during the oral arguments, that at the
time petitioner was found in 1968, the majority of the population in Iloilo was
Filipino.
Other circumstantial evidence of the nationality of petitioner’s parents are the fact
that she was abandoned as an infant in a Roman Catholic Church in Iloilo City.
 She also has typical Filipino features: height, flat nasal bridge, straight black hair,
almond shaped eyes and an oval face.

3. Modes of Acquiring Citizenship

a. By birth
i. Jus sanguinis – acquisition of citizenship on the basis of blood
relationship.
ii. Jus soli – acquisition of citizenship on the basis of the place of birth. 2. By
iii. Naturalization – the legal act of adopting an alien and clothing him with
the privilege of a native-born citizen.
b. By marriage - A foreign woman marries a Filipino husband, provided, she
possesses all qualifications and none of the disqualifications for naturalization.
Marriage with Aliens - Citizens of the Philippines who marry aliens shall retain
their citizenship, unless by their act or omission they are deemed, under the
law, to have renounced it.
c. Naturalization - Act of formally adopting a foreigner into the political body of a
nation by clothing him or her with the privileges of a citizen.

4. Loss and Re-Acquisition of Philippine Citizenship

a. Grounds for loss of Philippine citizenship
i. Naturalization in a foreign country
ii. Express renunciation of citizenship;
iii. Subscribing to an oath of allegiance to the constitution or laws of a foreign
country upon attaining 21 years of age;
iv. Rendering service to or accepting commission in the armed forces of a
foreign country.
v. Cancellation of certificate of naturalization (Denaturalization);
vi. Having been declared by final judgment a deserter of the armed forces of
the Philippines in times of war;
vii. In case of a woman, upon her marriage, to a foreigner if, by virtue of the
laws in force in her husband’s country, she acquires his nationality.

b. Ways to reacquire citizenship

i. Naturalization
ii. Repatriation
iii. Direct act of Congress

Repatriation
Recovery of the original nationality. This means that a naturalized Filipino who
lost his citizenship will be restored to his prior status as a naturalized Filipino
citizen. On the other hand, if he was originally a natural-born citizen before he
lost his Philippine citizenship, he will be restored to his former status as a natural-
born Filipino.