G.R. No. L-1675. July 30, 1949
LOCK BEN PING (ALIAS JOSEPH LOCK BEN PING), PETITIONER AND APPELLEE, VS. THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, OPPOSITOR AND APPELLANT.
PARAS, J.:
granting the petition for naturalization as a Filipino citizen of Lock Ben Ping
alias Joseph Lock Ben Ping.
The petitioner is a citizen or subject of China, his legal qualifications to
become a Filipino citizen is not questioneds and the only contention raised by
the Solicitor General In his brief refers to the alleged failure of the
petitioner to establish by competent evidence that under the laws of his country
Filipinos may become naturalized citizens or subjects thereof. Specifically, it
is insisted, for the appellant that the purported copy of the Chinese
Naturalization Law (presented in evidence by the petitioner) should not have
been considered by the lower court, because it was certified to merely by the
Chinese Consul in the Philippines who is not the custodian of the original law.
We need not pass upon this proposition, for “this Court has already accepted it
as a fact in previous naturalization cases that the laws of China permit
Filipinos to naturalise in that country.” (Yee Bo Mann vs. Republic of the
Philippines, G. R. No. L-1606, May 28, 1949.)
The appealed judgment is therefore affirmed, without costs. So ordered.
Moran, C.J., Ozaeta, Feria, Bengzon, Padilla, Tuason, Montemayor, and
Reyes, JJ., concur.