ANTONIO CHUA, PETITIONER AND APPELLEE, VS. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, OPPOSITOR AND APPELLANT.

This is an appeal by the Government from a decision of the Court of
First Instance of Iloilo ordering the admission of the petitioner,
Antonio Chua, as a naturalized Filipino citizen.

The only contention raised by the Solicitor General in his brief is
that the petitioner has not complied with paragraph 6, section 2, of
the Revised Naturalization Law providing that an applicant for
naturalization “must have enrolled his minor children of school age in
any of the public schools or private schools recognized by the Office
of Private Education of the Philippines, where Philippine history,
government and civics are taught or prescribed as part of the school
curriculum, during the entire period of the residence in the
Philippines required of him prior to the hearing of his petition for
naturalization as Philippine citizen.” Upon this point, according to
the appealed decision, there is evidence to show that petitioner’s two
minor children died in China in January, 1952, or about four months
before the hearing; and this circumstance excused him from complying
with the legal requirement. The petitioner makes the further claim that
the war in China had prevented him from bringing his children to the
Philippines.

As to the effect of the war, it would suffice to make reference to
our decision in the case of Oscar Anglo vs. Republic of the
Philippines, 92 Phil., 1006, wherein we rejected the contention now
insisted upon by the petitioner. Neither may the death of petitioner’s
two children in China be set up as an exemption, since there was
already non-compliance on his part with the requirement to have them
enrolled in a local public or private school before their death, and
during the entire required period of petitioner’s residence in the
Philippines prior to the hearing. Such non-compliance was not cured by
his children’s subsequent death. The case at bar presents an even more
unfavorable situation, as far as the petitioner is concerned, than that
involved in Anglo vs. Republic of the Philippines, because he appears
to have had several occasions to go to and return from China, the last
being in 1946.

Wherefore, the appealed decision is reversed and the petitioner’s petition for naturalization denied. So ordered.

Pablo, Bengzon, Padilla, Reyes, Jugo, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, and Concepcion, JJ., concur.