IN THE MATTER OF PETITION FOR NATURALIZATION OF TY ENG HUA, TY ENG HUA, PETITIONER-APPELLEE, VS. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, OPPOSITOR-APPELLANT.

Petitioner Ty Eng Hua,
a subject of Nationalist China, seeks to be admitted as citizen of the Philippines,
by naturalization.^[1]
The judgment below found that petitioner “has all the qualifications
required” by the Revised Naturalization Law and “none of the
disqualifications specified” therein, and declared him “eligible to
be admitted a citizen” of this country.

The Republic appealed.

For the reason alone that applicant does not have a lucrative
income, the petition should be denied. 
Income, for purposes of naturalization, is to be reckoned as of the time
of the filing of the application.  Here,
that application for naturalization was filed on March 28, 1961.  Paragraph 3 thereof avers that from his trade
as merchant, “he derives an
income of P3,600.00, more or less.” His 1960
income tax return, however, shows a net income of P4,739.32.^[2]
Going by a long line of judicial pronouncements, neither the one figure nor the
other represents income lucrative for one who – as is the case of petitioner –
has a wife and four (4) minor children to support.  Even on the assumption that, as petitioner
testified,^[3]
he “can get around P6,000 more or less” for
the year 1961, this income does not come up to the standard required in the
Naturalization Law.^[4]

The judgment under review must be, as it is hereby,
reversed, and petitioner’s petition for naturalization, denied.

Costs against petitioner.

SO ORDERED.

Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, J.B.L., Dizon, Regala, Makalintal, Bengzon, J.P., Zaldivar, and
Castro, JJ., concur.

^[1]
Naturalization Case No. 142 of the Court of First Instance of Camarines Sur, entitled “In the Matter of Petition for
Naturalization of Ty Eng Hua
to be Admitted a Citizen of the Philippines, Ty Eng Hua, petitioner.”

^[2]
Exhibit M.

^[3]
T.S.N., December 14, 1961, p. 53.

^[4]
Law Tai vs. Republic, L-20623, April 27, 1967, and cases cited.