PHILIPPINE CITIZENS FROM SPANISH REGIME AND TO THE PRESENT
PHILIPPINE CITIZENS FROM SPANISH REGIME AND TO THE PRESENT
Who are the first “Philippine Citizens”? How does this term first used?
Our constitution, specifically 1935, 1973 and our present 1987 constitution
define who Philippine Citizen is. In one of the decision of the Supreme Court,
in Tecson vs. Comelec, 2004,
it narrated and discussed how it was first conceived, and when it was first
coined. Thus:
The
Local Setting - from Spanish Times to the Present
There was no such term as "Philippine
citizens" during the Spanish regime but "subjects of Spain" or
"Spanish subjects."[13] In church records, the natives were
called 'indios',
denoting a low regard for the inhabitants of the archipelago. Spanish laws on citizenship
became highly codified during the 19th century but their sheer number made it
difficult to point to one comprehensive law. Not all of these citizenship laws
of Spain however, were made to apply to the Philippine Islands except for those
explicitly extended by Royal Decrees. [14]
Spanish laws on citizenship were traced back to the Novisima Recopilacion,
promulgated in Spain on 16 July 1805 but as to whether the law was extended to
the Philippines remained to be the subject of differing views among experts;[15]
however, three royal decrees were undisputably made applicable to Spaniards in
the Philippines - the Order de la Regencia of 14 August 1841,[16]
the Royal Decree of 23 August 1868 specifically defining the political status
of children born in the Philippine Islands,[17] and finally, the Ley
Extranjera de Ultramar of 04 July 1870, which was expressly made applicable to
the Philippines by the Royal Decree of 13 July 1870.[18]
The Spanish Constitution of 1876 was never extended to the Philippine
Islands because of the express mandate of its Article 89, according to which
the provisions of the Ultramar among which this country was included, would be
governed by special laws.[19]
It was only the Civil Code of Spain, made effective in this jurisdiction
on 18 December 1889, which came out with the first categorical enumeration of
who were Spanish citizens. -
(a) Persons born in
Spanish territory,
(b) Children of a Spanish
father or mother, even if they were born outside of Spain,
(c) Foreigners who have
obtained naturalization papers,
(d) Those who, without
such papers, may have become domiciled inhabitants of any town of the
Monarchy.[20]
The year 1898 was another turning point in Philippine history. Already in
the state of decline as a superpower, Spain was forced to so cede her sole
colony in the East to an upcoming world power, the United States. An accepted
principle of international law dictated that a change in sovereignty, while
resulting in an abrogation of all political laws then in force, would have no
effect on civil laws, which would remain virtually intact.
The Treaty of Paris was entered into on 10 December 1898 between Spain
and the United States.[21] Under Article IX of the treaty, the civil
rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories ceded
to the United States would be determined by its Congress -
"Spanish
subjects, natives of the Peninsula, residing in the territory over which Spain
by the present treaty relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty may remain in such
territory or may remove therefrom, retaining in either event all their rights
of property, including the right to sell or dispose of such property or of its
proceeds; and they shall also have the right to carry on their industry,
commerce, and professions, being subject in respect thereof to such laws as are
applicable to foreigners. In case they remain in the territory they may
preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain by making, before a court of
record, within a year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this
treaty, a declaration of their decision to preserve such allegiance; in default
of which declaration they shall be held to have renounced it and to have
adopted the nationality of the territory in which they reside.
Thus:
The civil rights and
political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to
the United States shall be determined by the Congress."[22]
Upon the ratification of the treaty, and pending legislation by the
United States Congress on the subject, the native inhabitants of the
Philippines ceased to be Spanish subjects. Although they did not become
American citizens, they, however, also ceased to be "aliens" under
American laws and were thus issued passports describing them to be citizens of
the Philippines entitled to the protection of the United States.
The term "citizens of the Philippine Islands" appeared for the
first time in the Philippine Bill of 1902, also commonly referred to as the
Philippine Organic Act of 1902, the first comprehensive legislation of the
Congress of the United States on the Philippines -
".... that all
inhabitants of the Philippine Islands continuing to reside therein, who were
Spanish subjects on the 11th day of April, 1891, and then resided in said
Islands, and their children born subsequent thereto, shall be deemed and held
to be citizens of the Philippine Islands and as such entitled to the protection
of the United States, except such as shall have elected to preserve their
allegiance to the Crown of Spain in accordance with the provisions of the
treaty of peace between the United States and Spain, signed at Paris, December
tenth eighteen hundred and ninety eight."[23]
Under the organic act, a citizen of the Philippines was one who was an
inhabitant of the Philippines, and a Spanish subject on the 11th day of April
1899. The term inhabitant was taken to include 1) a native-born inhabitant, 2)
an inhabitant who was a native of Peninsular Spain, and 3) an inhabitant who
obtained Spanish papers on or before 11 April 1899.[24]
Controversy arose on to the status of children born in the Philippines
from 11 April 1899 to 01 July 1902, during which period no citizenship law was
extant in the Philippines. Weight was given to the view, articulated in
jurisprudential writing at the time, that the common law principle of jus soli,
otherwise also known as the principle of territoriality, operative in the
United States and England, governed those born in the Philippine Archipelago
within that period.[25] More about this later.
In 23 March 1912, the Congress of the United States made the following
amendment to the Philippine Bill of 1902 -
"Provided, That
the Philippine Legislature is hereby authorized to provide by law for the
acquisition of Philippine citizenship by those natives of the Philippine
Islands who do not come within the foregoing provisions, the natives of other
insular possession of the United States, and such other persons residing in the
Philippine Islands who would become citizens of the United States, under the
laws of the United States, if residing therein."[26]
With the adoption of the Philippine Bill of 1902, the concept of
"Philippine citizens" had for the first time crystallized. The word
"Filipino" was used by William H. Taft, the first Civil Governor
General in the Philippines when he initially made mention of it in his slogan,
"The Philippines for the Filipinos." In 1916, the Philippine Autonomy
Act, also known as the Jones Law restated virtually the provisions of the
Philippine Bill of 1902, as so amended by the Act of Congress in 1912 -
That all inhabitants
of the Philippine Islands who were Spanish subjects on the eleventh day of
April, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, and then resided in said Islands, and
their children born subsequently thereto, shall be deemed and held to be
citizens of the Philippine Islands, except such as shall have elected to
preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain in accordance with the
provisions of the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain, signed
at Paris December tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight and except such
others as have since become citizens of some other country; Provided, That the
Philippine Legislature, herein provided for, is hereby authorized to provide
for the acquisition of Philippine citizenship by those natives of the
Philippine Islands who do not come within the foregoing provisions, the natives
of the insular possessions of the United States, and such other persons
residing in the Philippine Islands who are citizens of the United States, or
who could become citizens of the United States under the laws of the United
States, if residing therein."
Under the Jones Law, a native-born inhabitant of the Philippines was
deemed to be a citizen of the Philippines as of 11 April 1899 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.
While there was, at one
brief time, divergent views on whether or not jus soli was a mode of acquiring
citizenship, the 1935 Constitution brought to an end to any such link with
common law, by adopting, once and for all, jus sanguinis or blood relationship
as being the basis of Filipino citizenship -
Section 1, Article III, 1935 Constitution. The following are citizens of
the Philippines -
(1) Those who are citizens
of the Philippine Islands at the time of the adoption of this Constitution
(2) Those born in the
Philippines Islands of foreign parents who, before the adoption of this
Constitution, had been elected to public office in the Philippine Islands.
(3) Those whose fathers
are citizens of the Philippines.
(4) Those whose mothers
are citizens of the Philippines and upon reaching the age of majority, elect
Philippine citizenship.
(5) Those who are
naturalized in accordance with law.
Subsection (4), Article III, of the 1935 Constitution, taken together
with existing civil law provisions at the time, which provided that women would
automatically lose their Filipino citizenship and acquire that of their foreign
husbands, resulted in discriminatory situations that effectively incapacitated
the women from transmitting their Filipino citizenship to their legitimate
children and required illegitimate children of Filipino mothers to still elect
Filipino citizenship upon reaching the age of majority. Seeking to correct this
anomaly, as well as fully cognizant of the newly found status of Filipino women
as equals to men, the framers of the 1973 Constitution crafted the provisions
of the new Constitution on citizenship to reflect such concerns -
Section 1, Article III, 1973 Constitution - The following are citizens of
the Philippines:
(1) Those who are citizens
of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this Constitution.
(2) Those whose fathers or
mothers are citizens of the Philippines.
(3) Those who elect
Philippine citizenship pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution of
nineteen hundred and thirty-five.
(4) Those who are
naturalized in accordance with law.
For good measure, Section 2 of the same article also further provided that
"A female citizen
of the Philippines who marries an alien retains her Philippine citizenship,
unless by her act or omission she is deemed, under the law to have renounced
her citizenship."
The 1987 Constitution generally adopted the provisions of the 1973
Constitution, except for subsection (3) thereof that aimed to correct the
irregular situation generated by the questionable proviso in the 1935
Constitution.
Section I, Article IV, 1987 Constitution now provides:
The following are citizens of the Philippines:
(1) Those who are citizens
of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this Constitution.
(2) Those whose fathers or
mothers are citizens of the Philippines.
(3) Those born before
January 17, 1973 of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine citizenship upon
reaching the age of majority; and
(4) Those who are
naturalized in accordance with law.
_______________________________________
[14] Leon T. Garcia, The Problems of Citizenship in the Philippines, Rex Bookstore, 1949,
p.3.
[15] Justices Malcolm, Recto and Florentino Torres believed that the
law was effective in the Philippines. Those who
entertained the contrary view were Justices Imperial and Villareal. (Garcia, supra., at 4.).
[16] Garcia, supra., pp. 5-6.
[17] Under the Royal Decree of August 23, 1868, the following were
considered foreigners --- (1) The legitimate and recognized natural children of
a father who belongs to another independent state, and the unrecognized and
natural and other illegitimate children of a mother belonging to another State
born outside of the Spanish dominions, (2) The children
specified in the preceding paragraph, born in the Spanish dominions or on board
Spanish vessels on the high seas if they do not, on attaining the age of
majority fixed in the laws of the Kingdom, elect Spanish nationality, (3) Those
being Spaniards, acquire another nationality, as well by renouncing the first
as by accepting employment, from another government without the authority of
the sovereign and (4) The woman who contracts marriage with a subject of
another State. (Garcia, supra., pp. 6-7)
[18] Under the law, the following were 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, (3) Those born in Spanish territory of foreign
parents or foreign fathers and Spanish mothers while they do not make that
claim, (4) Spaniards who may have lost their nationality, (5) Those born
outside of the Spanish territory of parents who may have lost their Spanish
nationality; and (6), the Spanish woman married to a foreigner. (Garcia, supra., p. 7)
[19] Velayo, infra., p. 11.
[20] Article 17, The Civil Code of Spain.
[21] Garcia, supra, pp. 6-7.
[22] Ramon M. Velayo, Philippine Citizenship And Naturalization,
Central Book Supply, Manila (1965), pp. 22-23.
[23] Ibid., p. 30.
[24] Garcia, supra, at pp. 31-32.
[25] Garcia, supra, pp. 23-26.
[26] Velayo, supra, p. 31