G.R. No. L-10472. February 26, 1958

This is a petition filed by Dionisio Sy in
the proper court of first instance praying that he be declared Filipino
citizen. The government did not present any opposition to the petition
and after hearing the court granted the same subject to the condition
prescribed in Republic Act No. 530. From this decision, the provincial
fiscal has appealed.

Petitioner was born of Chinese parents in Cebu City on September
19, 1929. He has continuously resided therein for 26 years. He is
provided with Alien Certificate of Registration No. A-75365 and an
Immigrant Certificate of Residence No. 46694 duly issued by the
immigration authorities. He finished his elementary education on April
18, 1947 and his secondary education on April 19, 1950 at the Colegio
de San Carlos established in Cebu City, and obtained his degree of
Bachelor of Science in Commerce on March 27, 1953 from the University
of San Carlos. He had been employed by Lam Shan Trading Company
established in Cebu City from April 1, 1954 to March 31, 1955 with a
monthly salary of P150 and at present he is employed as supervising
agent at Chong Ban Yek & Co., Inc., also established in said city
with a monthly salary of P500, including allowances and traveling
expenses. And he has always paid his taxes regularly.

Petitioner never left the Philippines since birth and he has never
been charged with, nor convicted of, any crime. He has also observed
good behavior in his relations with the community in which he lives,
and he has always evinced a sincere desire to learn and embrace the
customs, traditions and ideals of the Filipino people. He has mingled
socially with the Filipinos. He does not practice polygamy nor is he
opposed to organized government or affiliated with any association or
group of persons who uphold and teach doctrines opposed to organized
government. He does not defend or teach the necessity of violence,
personal assault or assassination for the success and predominance of
his ideas. If declared Filipino citizen, he will renounce forever his
allegiance to any foreign state or sovereignty, especially Nationalist
China of which he is at present a subject. He can speak and write
English and the Cebu dialect and believes in the principles underlying
our Constitution. In view of these qualifications, the lower court
declared him entitled to Filipino citizenship.

The government however believes that petitioner has failed to
establish by competent evidence that he has all the qualifications
required by law to become a Filipino citizen for the reason that his
two character witnesses Jose Batiquin and Maximino S. Ylaya have not
shown to have intimate knowledge of his life as to qualify them to
testify that he possesses good moral character or had conducted himself
in a proper and irreproachable manner during the entire period of his
stay in the Philippines. With this opinion we disagree.

Analyzing the testimony of Batiquin, we find that he came to know
petitioner when he was studying in the City Central School of Cebu and
they oftentimes met in the Cebu Christian Center where they used to
play pingpong and other games before the outbreak of the war. During
the Japanese occupation he knew that petitioner evacuated to Bogo and
he used to go to his house. He met him in 1945 or 1946 somewhere in
Cebu City because he was residing in the store of his uncle Quezon Tan
and he used to frequent said store. Considering the years of his
acquaintance with petitioner, he can say that he never left the
Philippines and he has always mingled with Filipinos.

Ylaya, on the other hand, testified that he first met petitioner in
1941 when he was a student in the Colegio de San Carlos in Cebu City.
He used to meet him in the store of one Pablo Cadigan where he used to
eat and play with him the local game called “takyan.” They used to see
each other twice in the afternoon after classes. After liberation in
1947, he and petitioner continued their studies in the Colegio de San
Carlos where they used to meet each other. He was then an instructor of
the ROTC and of the PMT in said college where he used to see petitioner
either in the vicinity of the school or in the room where they used to
hold their classes. He knows that at present petitioner is working with
Chong Ban Yek & Co., Inc., and on certain occasions he would go
with him to attend the fiesta in the town or in the barrio.
Cross-examined by the court, he testified that petitioner mingled
socially with Filipinos and has adopted their customs during his
association with them.

A cursory examination of the declarations of these two witnesses
will show that they have evinced actual and personal knowledge of the
behavior and conduct of petitioner during the many years of their
acquaintance from which one can infer that he is a person of good
refute and character as to qualify him to become a Filipino citizen.
And considering that petitioner has complied with all other
requirements of the law especially with regard to his educational and
social qualifications, we are of the opinion that the above
declarations substantially comply with the requirement as to his
conduct and behavior more so when no contrary evidence was presented by
the government to dispute them. There is therefore no reason to disturb
the findings of the lower court on this matter.

Wherefore, the decision appealed from is affirmed, without pronouncement as to costs.

Paras, C.J., Bengzon, Padilla, Montemayor, Reyes, A., Labrador, Endencia, and Felix, JJ., concur.