G. R. No. L-9997. May 22, 1957

Appeal from a  decision of the Court of First Instance of Manila in its  case  No 25370, denying the appellant’s petition for a writ of prohibition and mandamus to compel  the  Board of  Immigration Commissioners  to  desist from continuing deportation proceedings. against petitioner’s  wife, Tjioe Wu Suan,  and to issue to her a certificate showing her status to be  that  of a Filipino citizen.

The facts  were stipulated  by  and  between  the parties to be  as follows:

1. That according to the Identification Certificate No. 265j issued by the Honorable Jose P. Bengzon, as Acting Commissioner  of Immigration On  June  29, 1960, photostatic copy  of  which, is  hereto attached as Annex “A”, petitioner Ricardo Cua is  a Filipino citizen;
2.   That Tjioe Wu  Suan is the  holder  of a certificate in lieu  of  Passport No. 17-134 issued by the Republic of Indonesia in Hongkong;
3. That on  November  1,  1952, Tjioe  Wu  Suan  arrived  in  the Philippines aboard a Philippine  Air Lines  plane from  Hongkong; that after the requisite investigation  she was admitted as a transient and  registered under A. C.-B. No. A—241014 issued  in Manila  on November 13,  1952; that later on  she  was  granted  extension  to stay, the last one being up to March. 31, 1954;
4. That on  December 4, 1953. the Indonesian  Embassy in  Manila reported to the  Commissioner of Immigration  that  the passport of Tjoe Wu Suan  was allegedly forged;
5. That based on  that report, Warrant of Arrest N.o. 229, dated December 10,  1953, was  issued  by  the Bureau  of   Immigration against Tjioe  Wu Suan;
6.   That on  December  20,  1953,  petitioner  and  Tjioe  Wu Suan were married  as  shown  by Annex “1” of the  Petition;
7. That by  reason of such  marriage, the Board of Special Inquiry of the  Bureau of  Immigration,  conducted  an  investigation, after which,  it ruled  that “as a   citizen  she is  no longer subject  to deportation”  and that “she shall instead be issued the  appropriate identification  certificate  showing  her  correct status  as a  Filipino citizen”  (Annex  “2”y Petition) ;  that  on December  29, 1953,  she was issued  Identification. Certificate  No. 1746  annexed to  “Manifestation” dated  July 2,  1955;
8. That  respondent Board of   Immigration  Commissioners  proceeded  with  the deportation proceedings and  continues to do  so against petitioner’s Wife,  and respondent refuses to refund the sum of  one  thousand   (P 1,000)   pesos,  which   petitioner’s  wife  had posted as cash bond for her1 temporary stay, as evidenced by  Official Receipt  No.   5424220,   dated  December  12,  1953.” (Appellee’s Brief, pp. 6-8).

The writs prayed for  were refused by the court  below because it  found  that the marriage  of  the female  alien Tjioe Wu Suan  to petitioner Ricardo  Cua,  celebrated ten days  after  the warrant  for her  arrest and  deportation was issued, was resorted to only as an expedient to thwart the course of the pending deportation proceedings  against her.  In  this  appeal,  it is  insisted  that the  marriage was valid and automatically  conferred Philippine  citizen- ship  upon  the  alien  woman,  rendering her  immune to deportation.  
 
 The appeal can not be sustained.  Granting  the validity of marriage, this  Court has ruled in the recent case of Ly Giok  Ha vs. Galang, supra, p. 459,  that the bare  fact of a valid marriage to a citizen does not suffice to confer  his citizenship ,upon the wife.  Section 15 of the Naturalization law requires that  the alien woman who marries a Filipino must show, in addition, that she “might herself be lawfully naturalized” as a Filipino citizen.  As construed in  the decision cited, this just condition  requires  proof that  the woman who married a  Filipino is  herself not  disqualified under section 4 of the Naturalization law.
 
 No  such evidence appearing on  record, the  claim of assumption of Filipino citizenship by Tjioe Wu  Suan, upon her marriage to petitioner, is  untenable.  The lower court, therefore,  committed  no  error in refusing to  interfere with  the  deportation proceedings,  where she can anyway establish the  requisites  indispensable  for  her  acquisition of Filipino citizenship,  as well as  the  alleged  validity of her Indonesian passport.
 
Wherefore, the decision   appealed  from is  affirmed. Costs against the petitioner in both instances.   So ordered.
 
 Bengzon,  Padilla,  Montemayor,   Reyes,  A.,  Bautista Angelo, Conception, Endencia,  and Felix,  JJ.,  concur.