IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAMES. SALVADORA ONG ALIAS PECK SUAN AND YAP KENG HUE, ET AL., PETITIONERS AND APPELLEES, VS. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, OPPOSITOR …

Petitioners-appellees filed civil case No. 1555-R, in the Court of
First Instance of Cebu entitled “In the Matter of the Petition for
Change of Names of Salvadora Ong alias Peck Suan and Yap Ken
Hua, et al.” and prayed, for the reasons stated therein, that the Civil
Registrar of the City of Cebu be ordered “to correct and change the
name of the father to YAP KENG HUE, of the mother to SALVADORA ONG alias PECK SUAN and of the child YAP BEE LING alias
MARY as the true and correct names,” alleging that the entry of their
names in said local civil registry was erroneous, there appearing the
name of the father as YAP KING HUE; the name of the mother as PECK SUAN
ONG and the name of the child as YAP BEE LING. After due hearing, the
lower court entered the following order:

“Por las razones expresadas, se ordena al Registro
Civil de la Ciudad de Cebu que haga las correspondientes correcciones
en el Registro No. 5773, referente al nacimiento de la niña YAP BEE
LING, de la manera siguiente:

ASI SE ORDENA.”

The case was appealed and in this instance the Solicitor General contends that the lower court erred:

1. In entertaining in the instant petition for change of names, a petition for use of aliases; and
2. In ordering the correction to be made in the birth certificate of Yap Bee Ling.

Petitioners-appellees claim that the decision in question should be
sustained because the true name of the mother of Yap Bee Ling is really
Salvadora Ong alias Peck Suan as shown by the alien
certificate Exhibit “D”; that the true name of the father is Yap Keng
Hue as shown by Exhibit “E”; and that the true name of the child is Yap
Bee Ling alias Mary. They further claim that before the
preparation of the birth certificate Exhibit “C”, Yap Keng Hue
presented to Dra. Gloria Cura Bacay Exhibits D and E, requesting her to
make appear in Exhibit “C” the name of the father as Yap Keng Hua; that
of the mother as Salvadora Ong alias Peck Suan and therefore
Exhibit “C” as well as the entry in the civil registry of Cebu should
be corrected in order that the true names of the father, mother and
child may appear therein. Dra. Bacay prepared Exhibit “C”, the birth
certificate, the content of which was correctly copied in the local
civil registry of births of Cebu City, testified however that the data
in Exhibit “C” are correct and that she never saw Exhibits “D” and “E”
before the preparation of said Exhibit “C”. This testimony fully
refutes the contention of petitioners about the incorrectness of
Exhibit “C” and its entry in the civil registry of births of the City
of Cebu. On the other hand, there is no evidence showing that error has
been committed in the preparation of Exhibit “C”, or that Exhibit “C”
was incorrectly copied in the civil registry of births of Cebu City;
and as to the name of the child Yap Bee Ling, we find no mistake in the
aforementioned civil registry of births of Cebu City, for her name
appearing therein tallies with her name in the birth certificate. The
omission of the alias MARY in said civil registry was not due
to error or mistake because such alias does not appear in the birth
certificate. The name of Yap Bee Ling as appears in the civil registry
is not incorrect; it may be incomplete, but such incompleteness is not
sufficient to authorize the correction sought for by the petitioners.
On the other hand, if the desire of the petitioners is to secure for
Yap Bee Ling authority to use the alias Mary, that should have been
stated clearly in the petition and substantiated at its hearing, a fact
which the records fail to show.

Wherefore, finding no reason for granting the petition the decision appealed from is hereby reversed, with costs.

Paras, C. J., Bengzon, Padilla, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Reyes, J.B.L., Barrera, and Gutierrez David, JJ., concur.