IN THE MATTER OF THE CHANGE OF NAME OF MA CHIK KIN, A MINOR.  MA ING CHAO, PETITIONER-APPELLEE, VS. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, OPPOSITOR-APPELLANT.

This is an appeal, taken by the Solicitor General, from an order of the Court of First Instance of Zamboanga City, authorizing that the name of one Ma Chik Tong be changed to Ma Chik
Kin.

The record shows that on June
29, 1966, Ma Ing Chao
filed, with said Court, a petition
for the aforementioned change of name, upon
the ground that, prior thereto, said petitioner had adopted Chik Tong, a minor, then 4 years of age; that the order,
dated September 11, 1953, granting the
petition for adoption, in Special Civil Case No. 327 of said Court,
directed that, thereafter, his surname shall
be Ma, which is that of the adopting father; that the full name of the adopted minor should,
therefore, be Ma Chik Tong; that his Alien
Certificate of Registration No. A-202752, issued
on September 25, 1953, is, however, in the name of Ma Chik Kin; that since the minor began schooling in 1955,
he had been using the name Ma Chik Kin and is
known by that name by his friends and schoolmates; that petitioner had
“lately x x x
discovered,” before the institution of the present case, that such name is
not in accordance with the aforesaid order of adoption dated September 11, 1953; and that petitioner wants his adopted son to
“continue using t he name, Ma Chik Kin, not only
because it is the name by which he is commonly known to his friends, acquaintances
and schoolmates, but, also, because it is the name appearing in his alien
registration certificate, otherwise known as ACR No. V-54813,
issued on May 8, 1953.” After publication of the corresponding
notice and due hearing, the lower court issued the order already adverted to,
despite the opposition thereto of the Solicitor General, who, upon the
subsequent denial of his motion for reconsideration, interposed the present
appeal, which We find to be well taken.

Indeed, the title of the
case at bar is:  “In the matter of
the change of name of Ma Chik Kin, a
minor.” The order of the trial court, directing the publication of the
corresponding notice, bore the same title, which is, also, that of the notice
published accordingly.  We have, however,
held that the true name of the party whose name is sought to be changed
should be set forth in the title of the case and of the notice published in
connection therewith, and that failure to do so is fatal to the application for
a change of name and precludes the Court from having jurisdiction to entertain
the same.  Thus, in Ng Yao Siong v. Republic,^[1] We said:

“ x x x. The order of publication herein – based on the petition
– was published in ‘The Negros Times’, a weekly
newspaper in Dumaguete City.  The title of this case was there printed as
follows:  ‘In the matter of the change
of name of Jesus Ng Yao Siong,
Jesus Ng Yao Siong,
petitioner.’ But Jesus Ng Yao Siong,
the name appearing in the petition, the order of publication, and the
publication itself, is not the true name of petitioner.  As heretofore stated, his name appearing in
the civil register is merely ‘Jesus Ng’ without the Yao
Siong. 
The name to be changed, if any, is Jesus Ng-not Jesus Ng Yao Siong.  It thus results that there is no name to be
changed in the petition.

“It is our view that
this failure in the heading of the application to give the true name
sought to be changed is fundamental; such failure is non-compliance with the strict
requirements of publication; it is fatal; and the court did not acquire
jurisdiction to hear the case.”‘

Illustrative of the vital importance attached to the inclusion of
the name in the title of the case and in the notice published in connection
therewith is Tan v. Republic.^[2]
The name of the applicant therein was Jayme S. Tan,
whereas that given in said notice was Jaime S. Tan.  The use therein of the letter “i“, instead of “y” in Jayme
was deemed sufficient to warrant denial of the petition, because ?

“A discrepancy exists in the petition and the published
order.  Whereas in the published Order
the name of petitioner was spelled Jaime S. Tan; the verified petition spells
his name as Jayme S. Tan (Exhs.
A-1 to A-3).  Even the affidavit of the publisher of ‘La Prensa‘
(Exh. A), the name appearing is Jaime S.
Tan.  Petitions for change of name being
proceedings in rem, strict compliance
with the requirements of publication is essential, for it is by such means that
the Court acquires jurisdiction (Aida Jacobo v.
Republic, 5Z 0. G. No. 9, p. 2928). 
Considering the fact that the proceedings is one for change of name, the
defect in the petition and the order, as to the spelling of the name of the
petitioner, is substantial, because it did not correctly identify the party to
said proceedings.  As the Solicitor
General has aptly observed –

‘ x x x. Not only was it misleading to the courts of justice, but
also prejudiced the interests of the general public.  By said act, he made, it difficult or
virtually impossible for anyone who might have an adverse interest, to oppose
his petition.  In the eyes of the law,
therefore, petitioner has not complied strictly with the legal requirement
regarding publication, thereby rendering the entire proceeding had in the court
below null and void.’”

As above indicated, the
name given in the title of the case at bar and of the notice published in
connection therewith is Ma Chik Kin, not the true
name of the adopted son of herein petitioner, which, according to the latter,
is either Chik Tong, or Ma Tong, or Ma Chik Tong, Consequently, the appealed decision is
null and void for lack of jurisdiction.

Independently of the foregoing, the allegations of the petition
have not been duly established. 
Petitioner introduced the testimony of Vicente Osorio, who stated that
he is the officer-in-charge and acting alien control officer of the immigration
office at Zamboanga City; that an alien by the name
of Ma Chik Tong is registered in his office; that the
registration was made on the basis of
the adoption papers, Exhibits A and A-1 (which is the order of adoption); that,
on September 25, 1953, Ma Chik Tong was issued an
alien certificate of registration in the name of Ma Chik
Kin; and that this was due to the fact that Ma Ing Chao, the petitioner herein, had asked the then alien
registration officer, one Atty. Dizon, that the name
registered be that of Ma Chik Kin because he
(petitioner) did not want the child to know that he was not really petitioner’s
son.  Apart from this testimony, petitioner
introduced no other evidence except Exhibits A and A-1, the order of adoption,
Exhibit B, a photostatic
copy of Ma Chik Kin’s alien certificate of
registration, and Exhibit C, the affi­davit of publication of the notice
already adverted to.

It has not been proven that Ma Chik Kin
is the same Chik Tong, to whom the order of adoption,
Exhibit A, refers.  Neither the
petitioner nor Ma Chik Kin, or any other person, had
taken the witness stand to testify thereon. 
Upon the other hand, the only witness for petitioner herein, namely,
Vicente Osorio, was not competent to furnish said
evidence.  In fact, he admitted that he
was not the one who typed and prepared the application for registration of Ma Chik Tong; that he does not remember having seen the person
of Ma Chik Tong whose photograph appears on the alien
certificate of registration Exhibit B; and that he is not sure that Exhibit B
was based upon Exhibits A and A-1, because the former is not in accordance with
the latter.  In fact, Exhibit B was issued
by someone else, not by Osorio, who does not appear to know either Ma Chik Tong or Ma Chik Kin.  Conse­quently, the allegations of the
petition in this case have not been duly established.

WHEREFORE, the order appealed from is hereby reversed and
judgment shall be entered denying the petition of appellee
Ma Ing Chao, as well as
dismissing the same, with costs against said appellee.

SO ORDERED.

Reyes, J.B.L., Dizon, Makalintal, Zaldivar, Castro,
Fernando, Teehankee, and
Villamor, JJ., concur.

Barredo, J., did not take part.

^[1]
L-20306, March 31, 1966.

^[2] L-16384,
April 26, 1962.