Dual Citizenship Philippines

CITIZENSHIP RETENTION AND RE-ACQUISITION
“REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9225”

Problem in re-aquisition of citizenship: I am not a "natural born" Filipino because my father's citizenship at the time of my birth was Chinese.

Who is a natural-born Filipino citizens?

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 born before 17 January 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority shall likewise be deemed natural-born citizens.

I did not "elect Philippine citizenship" when I reached the age of majority (21) because I wasn't in the Philippines then, and I wasn't aware of the option. I simply had a Philippine passport.

I applied for dual citizenship at the Philippine Consulate of Chicago, and got rejected for the above reasons.

I called the Bureau of Immigration Dual Citizenship Hotline 301-0756 in Manila to find out what more I can do. The staff was very courteous. I told them my father was naturalized to Filipino when I was two years old:

They said that if I was included in his naturalization petition, then it is equivalent to being natural born. Our whole family was included in my father's naturalization order. So I prepared my petition for citizenship retention and re-acquisition, with supporting documents, and went to the Bureau of Immigration Philippines office in Intramuros.

I mentioned this in my petition:

At the Bureau of Immigration, I explained my circumstances to someone at the Information desk. He told me to go Room 407. I could not find Room 407, so I went to Room 408, Board of Special Inquiry. The gentleman and lady there were very accommodating (there was no queue; I think it's their job to help people like me). They asked if my father was naturalized under some presidential decree. No. I showed them copies of my father's 1966 naturalization papers. They consulted the lawyer inside:
Atty. Estanislao R. Canta
Atty. at Law
Board of Special Inquiry
Their response to me: No; I can only try to be a permanent resident. I went home.

A couple days later, I phoned the Dual Citizenship hotline again. Talked to a different person, who again encouraged me to apply. She said I qualify because my father was naturalized early on. So I went to the Bureau of Immigration office again, ready to have my papers notarized and submitted. I talked to a different person at the Information desk. He told me I need a long folder and two self-addressed stamped envelopes. These supplies are being sold near the cafeteria. So I went to the cafeteria area and bought these items for 60 pesos. Used the two-hole punch there, and secured my papers into the folder. If you haven't taken your (Philippine) passport-size photos (with royal blue background) ahead of time, there seems to be a photo booth at the Bureau of Immigration too.

Anyway, the Information desk "vets" you. The guy at the Information desk saw the showstopper in my application (Chinese father). He said this won't work; doesn't matter that my father was naturalized 3 years after I was born. He said I can check with the 4th floor. I said I already did that the other day and got the same rejection. I explained that the Dual Citizenship staff keep telling me (on the phone) that I qualify; I called twice and got the same OK from two different people. Information desk guy said the staff probably doesn't know the law. Atty. Canta's is the final word. So I went to the 4th floor, not sure what to do. Try Atty. Canta's office (Room 408) again? I saw someone inquiring at Room 404: the Dual Citizenship One Stop Shop. I didn't know if people were allowed to inquire at that window. It looks like a room where they churn out certificates. I asked a gentleman there. He felt sure that I qualify. He showed my folder packet to his lady boss. Then he told me it should be OK, but they need to see my old Philippine passport (which I need to send to the Philippines by FedEx International Priority from the U.S.) to show that I was a former Filipino. They said to tell the Information desk that they OK'ed my supporting documents; that I'm cleared to submit my petition.

So we shall see. The Information desk is what's barring me from taking my oath of allegiance and paying my fees, in order to submit my petition. I think (hope) that the Dual Citizenship One Stop Shop is where petitions are approved. Does Atty. Canta really read through the details of the petitions?

August 2, 2013, 9:00am, Back to the Bureau of Immigration

my visitor's badge: when I left the building with it, people outside were kind enough to tell me "ID" (i.e., don't go home with the badge; remember to get my ID back)

I presented my folder (petition papers) to the Information Desk. I sought out the guy who didn't "reject" me (tell me no way I could do it) the last time. The guy pulled out "unnecessary papers" from my folder: a copy of my marriage certificate (my attempt to show why my name changed), a copy of my old U.S. passport (stating an amendment in my name), my NSO birth certificate (with copies of my father's naturalization papers stapled to it), a copy of my most recent Philippine passport. He said the older Philippine passport will do. He stapled my second set of passport photos to the right pages, and stapled the self-addressed stamped envelopes and the old(er) Philippine passport to the long folder. He sent me to Window 14.

I turned in my papers (along with my U.S.passport) at the window, and they gave me a number.

I didn't know how or when I would get called. I didn't know if I would hear my number (number not called over the PA). I was hungry and wanted to get something to eat, but I couldn't leave. After about half an hour, a few of us inquired at the window. They said that if we didn't hear our number called, they would look for us and make sure we knew. Soon after, they called (or sometimes they display the folder on the window). I got this note stapled to my folder:

Urggghhhh!

my dossier

I went to Room 404 to ask why they're asking for this ("election of Philippine citizenship").

I asked people there whom I hadn't spoken to before. They kept giving me the "not natural born" answer, and suggested that I ask the Board of Special Inquiry (Room 408). They (at Room 404) had encountered a petitioner the day before, who was in the same plight (Chinese father at birth). I asked what that petitioner did. He went to the Board of Special Inquiry.

So I went to the Board of Special Inquiry (Room 408). The lady asked me if I had elected Philippine citizenship. I said I did (fibbing) but I lost the documents (hoping I could get by with an affidavit of loss). She said if that's the case, I could go to the Records Section on the 3rd floor and get a certified copy of it. Busted. Then I said I'm not sure if I did. I brought up my naturalized father again, and how Room 404 people had told me on the phone and in person that I can be considered "natural born" because my father was naturalized when I was a minor. I showed her my father's naturalization papers (and how I was naturalized along with him). She then told me to see:

to try to retrieve any record that proves I was a Philippine citizen. I wasn't sure what she thought they might find in the records, since I never "elected to be a Philippine citizen at the age of majority."

I went to Room 214:

Mr. Castillo was very nice. He took my U.S. passport as ID to look up my information. He searched in his office for maybe 20 minutes. Then he told us (me and this other person) to wait, because he had to search in another building. While waiting, I took these photos of the view from the fire escape:

I think the search took about an hour. He found this card (shown are front and back):

Mr. Castillio told me to see Lei in the Records Section 3/F to get a certified true copy. In my haste (making phone calls for other matters), I left my U.S. passport at Mr. Castillio's office. He brought it up to the 3rd floor for me. Lei was very nice. I filled out a request form, using my maiden name and indicating Philippine citizenship, to get a certified copy of my "Philippine identification." When you make mistakes on forms here (e.g., I wrote U.S. citizen), they do not tear up the form; they white it out. It was right before noon. Lei said the certified true copy won't be ready until 1:30pm because she had to take the request to another building, and people may be on lunch.

I went to the cafeteria to look for food. Not appealing enough. Then I walked across the street to Starbucks, hoping to get wifi. There were no signs advertising wifi, so I looked around and left.

Inside Starbucks: looks like a tunnel

view from Starbucks Intramuros

another view of ruins from Starbucks Intramuros

I went back to Starbucks to get a latte and a cookie, since I was hungry. I asked the barista if they had wifi. He told me the wifi password (lesson to me: one should ask). This was good. I needed to email a document to someone, urgently.

At 1:30pm I went to pick up my certified copy (of what, not sure). I got this request form with the bill stapled to it.

Also attached to it were the xerox copies of my Identification Certificate:

It shows when I was naturalized. I had to take this to Window 21 (pay the cashier), then Window 12 (receiving), then Window 10 (releasing), then take it back to Lei on the 3rd floor. At Window 12 (receiving) they gave me a claim stub and said it would be ready at 4pm (2+ hours of waiting!). I could've gone to Starbucks to relax in nice ambiance, but I thought I might stick around in case it's ready earlier. At the releasing window, the lady updated a little whiteboard with names of people's papers ready for release. 

To kill time, I read:

But I also walked around to look for answers. I went to Room 404 (Dual Citizenship One Stop Shop), and found the guy I talked to last week: Noland. He was the one who told me I was in essence "natural born." He asked me if I submitted my father's naturalization papers. I said no, because the guy at the Info Desk took it out of my dossier. Noland said the Info Desk guy probably took my birth certificate (where my father's naturalization papers were attached) out because it explicitly stated Chinese father. An old Philippine passport is an alternative document to the birth certificate. He told me to bring the certified true copy of my Identification Certificate to him when I get it at 4pm, and he'll write a note to the people downstairs (Window 14: where I submitted my folder). 

I also asked people at any "info" counter I could find, what it meant to "elect Philippine citizenship." I asked the Info Desk if I could just drop in on the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) under the stairs. He said no problem.

Public Attorney's Office (PAO) is behind the Info Desk

I asked the attorney what it meant to "elect Philippine citizenship." Was it some oath-taking? Was there some official process to do when one turned 21 (like signing up for the draft at 18)? She asked me what I was applying for, etc. I told her about my father's naturalization papers. She said those should've been in my folder. She wrote a response note (to Window 14), asking them to look at my father's naturalization papers. I felt good; felt like I had an advocate. I submitted my folder back to Window 14. Not long after, I got this:

So I went back to the PAO and signed my papers. Stood, raised my right hand, and recited the oath.

Then I took the folder to a cashier window to pay the fees. After getting my official receipt (OR), the attorney advised me to make xerox copies of the OR, and submit my dossier with the OR to Window 14 (or some window in that area). Petition has not been approved yet. That will take 6-8 weeks. But it's submitted. Forgot to mention, between all this paperwork, there were many trips to the xerox guy (near the cafeteria).

I didn't need my Identification Certificate anymore, but I waited for it. Not sure when it was ready (if earlier). It wasn't among the list of releasing documents being announced on the white board. I  picked it up from Window 10 (releasing) and brought it back to the Records Section on 3/F. Maybe it had to be signed there. A certified copy has something like this printed and signed on the back of the xerox copy:

If the petition is approved, and I cannot pick up the Certificate of re-acquisition / Retention of Philippine Citizenship in person, I was told by the Info Desk, that I need to prepare a special power of attorney (SPA) for the person picking it up on my behalf. The official instructions are printed on the O.R.:

If It is not picked up for two months or so, the certificate will probably go to "storage," and they'll have to look for it in some office.

Submitting this petition shouldn't take so many hours. Now I know, with the backing of the Bureau of Immigration Public Attorney's Office, that having been naturalized as a minor is equivalent to having "elected Philippine citizenship" by the time I was 21. You must respond that way: ask them to see your father's naturalization papers (if father's naturalization included you). I didn't even have to show true certified copies of my father's naturalization; home-xeroxed copies were accepted. 

The phrase "elect Philippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority" does not mean you performed some legal act at age 21. No one could tell me what this meant. It does not refer to a specific action like signing a specific form or registering at some government agency when you turned 21. It simply means that you became a Philippine citizen by the time you were 21. A Philippine passport isn't proof enough. They want to see Bureau of Immigration documents (like my father's naturalization papers). Perhaps your own Identification Certificate (what I waited for till 4pm) might work too.

August 5, 2013, 4:30pm

An attorney from the Bureau of Immigration phoned me at home. I didn't sign the petition for my daughter. I told her I'd go in around 7am the next day. Went to Window 14 the next day, and the attorney was there, as promised. She said she would submit the papers for processing immediately. Good to know they processed my petition very promptly.