WILLIAM CHIONGBIAN VS. DE LEON, IN HIS CAPACITY AS COMMISSION OF CUSTOM
WILLIAM CHIONGBIAN VS. DE LEON, IN HIS CAPACITY AS COMMISSION OF CUSTOM, G.R.No. L-2007, Political Law 1
FACTS:
The herein petitioner is a son of a Chinese citizen who has
been elected into office before the adaptation of the Constitution, wherein
said petitioner was still a minor. Respondent seeks to cancel the registration
certificates of the petitioner’s vessels and rescind the sale of vessels from
the same on the ground that the latte is allegedly not a Filipino citizen and
therefore not qualified to operate and own vessels of Philippine registry.
ISSUE:
WHETHER William Chiongban is a Filipino Citizen.
HELD:
Holding public office through election before the adoption
of the Constitution. – Upon the adaptation of the Constitution, Victoriano
Chiongban, father of the petitioner, having been elected to a public office in
the Philippines before the adoption of the Constitution, became a Filipino
citizen by virtue of Article IV, Section 1, Subsection 1 of the Constitution.
William, the herein petitioner, who was then a minor, also became a Filipino by
reason of Article IV subsection 3 of the Constitution, his father having become
a Filipino Citizen upon the adaptation of said constitution. Caram Rule.
This is also in conformity with the settled rule in the
Philippine Jurisprudence that a legitimate minor child follows the citizenship
of his father.