The Philippine Citizenship [Part II]

The Clearing Point

R. CHAM G. ZUÑIGA VI, Ll.B., MLGM, Ph.D.

The Philippine Citizenship

The Supreme Court pointed out that there was no such term as "Philippine citizens" during the Spanish regime. The people then were instead considered as "subjects of Spain" or "Spanish subjects." In church records, the natives were called 'indios'. Indios were regarded as lowly class level of inhabitants of the archipelago.

According to Leon T. Garcia, in his book entitled “The Problems of Citizenship in the Philippines,” (1949), the laws of Spain on citizenship were never made to apply to the Philippines, except those extended by the Royal Decrees. There were four (4) decrees that can be traced back as early as the 1800s.

Under Law 3, Book 6, Title II, of Novisima Recopilacion promulgated in Spain on 16 July 1805, the following were considered citizens:

All foreigners who obtained the privilege of naturalization, those who were born in these kingdoms; those who, residing therein may be converted to the holy Catholic faith; those being self-supporting, established their domicile therein; those who ask for and obtain residence in any town thereof; those who marry native women of said kingdoms and domiciled therein; and in case of a foreign woman who marries a native man, she thereby becomes subject to the same laws and acquires the same domicile as her husband; those who establish themselves in the country by acquiring real property; those who have trade or profession and go there to practice the same; also those who practice some mechanical trade therein or keep a retail store;... those who reside for a period of ten years in a home of his own; and also foreigners who, in accordance with the common law, royal orders and other laws of the kingdom, may have become naturalized or acquired residence therein...

There were disagreement as to whether or not the Philippines was within the scope of these laws, however, some authors and even Supreme Court justices argued that the Philippines was included as one of the “kingdoms” in that law.

The Spain’s Order of the Regency of August 14, 1941 provides that “foreigners who desire to gain Spanish citizenship should apply for it by means of an application filed with the Governor-General who was empowered in the interest of the nation to grant or deny the same. Compliance with this Royal Decree has been declared absolutely essential for the acquisition of citizenship with a view to acquire the status of a Spanish subject in the Philippine Islands prior to the change of sovereignty.”

The Royal Decree of 23 August 1868 provided that the following were considered foreigners:

First, the legitimate and recognized natural children of a father who belongs to another independent State, and the unrecognized natural, and other illegitimate children of a mother belonging to another State born outside of the Spanish dominions; Second- The children specified in the preceding paragraph, born in the Spanish dominions or on board Spanish vessels on high seas if they do not, on attaining the age of majority fixed in the laws of the kingdom, elect Spanish nationality; Third- Those being Spaniards, acquire another nationality, as well by renouncing the first as be accepting employment from another government without authority of the sovereign; Fourth- The woman who contracts marriage with the subject of another state.

The Law of 4 July 1870 – the “Ley Extranjera de Ultramar”, as published in the Official Gazette on 18 September 1870, provided that -

Art. 1. These are foreigners: (a) All persons born of foreign parents outside of the Spanish territory; (b) Those born outside of the Spanish territory of foreign fathers and Spanish mothers while they do not claim Spanish nationality; (c) Those born in Spanish territory of foreign parents, or foreign fathers and Spanish mothers, while they do not make that claim; (d) Spaniards who may have lost their nationality; (e) Those born outside of Spanish territory of parents who may have lost their Spanish nationality; and (f) The Spanish woman married to a foreigner. For purposes of this article, national vessels are considered a part of Spanish dominions.

Art. 2. Foreigners who under the laws obtain naturalization papers or acquire domicile in any town in the Spanish provinces of the Ultramar are considered Spaniards.

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