REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, PETITIONER, VS. THE HONORABLE INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT AND KENNETH WONG MAN LEUNG ALIAS KIANA SO, ALSO KNOWN AS KENNETH WONG MAN LEUNG, ETC., RE…

Republic versus the Intermediate Appellate Court and Kenneth Wong Man Leung

The Case

This is a petition for review brought by the Republic of the Philippines, through the Solicitor General, against the Intermediate Appellate Court and the private respondent, Kenneth Wong Man Leung, also known as Kiana So. The Republic challenges the appellate court's affirmance of a trial court judgment granting Kenneth's petition for change of name under Rule 103 of the Rules of Court. The case matters because it teaches the jurisdictional requirement in a change of name proceeding — that the petition must state the petitioner's real or official name — and because it shows how the Supreme Court treats the sufficiency of the ground for change of name as a question of fact.

Procedural History

Kenneth filed a petition for change of name before the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of Iloilo City. That court granted the petition, approving the change of his name to simply Kenneth Kiana So. The Republic, represented by the Solicitor General, appealed to the Intermediate Appellate Court, which affirmed the trial court's judgment. The Republic then elevated the matter to the Supreme Court, which decided the case in October 1986.

Facts

Kenneth was born in Hongkong on November 3, 1953. He came to the Philippines as a British subject sometime in 1969, then known as Wong Man Leung, the name appearing in his Alien Certificate of Registration and his Social Security System personal data record. He was baptized in March 1975 at the Parish Church of Santa Maria in Iloilo City and given the Christian name Kenneth, his baptismal certificate declaring his full name as Kenneth Wong Man Leung. Ten months later, in the same church, he married Maylinda Yap, his name in the marriage contract being Kenneth Wong Man Leung alias Kiana So.

He was naturalized as a Filipino citizen in February 1976 under Presidential Decree Number 836. His Certificate of Naturalization gives his name as Kenneth Wong Man Leung alias Kiana So, and this is how his name is recorded in the Office of the Local Civil Registrar of Iloilo City. His other records, however, carried various rearrangements and aliases of that name — in his son's birth certificate, his Social Security System records, his income tax return and official receipt, the records of his employer, and his residence tax receipt and clearances.

Wishing to rid himself of a burdensomely long name and to avoid the confusion caused by frequent rearrangements of its parts, and desiring a shorter, more easily identifiable Filipino name that would associate him more closely with his countrymen by adoption, Kenneth sought and obtained judicial approval of a change of name. The Solicitor General opposed, arguing that the petition failed to allege the name by which he was registered in Hongkong at birth, and that the evidence failed to show a proper and reasonable cause for the change.

Issues

• Whether or not the petition for change of name complied with the jurisdictional requirement of stating the petitioner's real or official name, despite the failure to allege the name by which he was registered in Hongkong upon his birth.
• Whether or not the evidence established a proper and reasonable cause for changing the petitioner's name.

Applicable Provisions

Rule 103 of the Rules of Court governs petitions for change of name, and the decision applies it in requiring that the petition state the petitioner's real or official name:

Rule 103 of the Rules of Court governs the change of name of a person.

This provision bears on the case because the Republic claimed a fatal defect in the petition, which the Court resolved by looking to the name officially recorded with the Local Civil Registrar.

Ruling

On the first issue, the Court held that there was no fatal defect. The Intermediate Appellate Court correctly ruled that at the time Kenneth filed his petition, the records of the Local Civil Registrar officially showed his name to be Kenneth Wong Man Leung alias Kiana So, this being the name under which he sought and was granted Filipino citizenship by naturalization. His petition therefore stated his real or official name and fulfilled the jurisdictional requirement. Moreover, the petition also alleged his former name as a British subject, Wong Man Leung, as it then appeared in his alien certificate of registration.

On the second issue, the Court held that the evidence established sufficient justification for the change of name. The appellate court found a sincere desire on Kenneth's part to adopt a Filipino name to erase signs of his former nationality which would unduly hamper his social and business life; that the change would do away with aliases, which should be discouraged; and that it would avoid confusion and serve the convenience of the world at large in addressing him or in speaking of or dealing with him. The Court declared that this was a finding of fact which it could not and would not review in the premises.

Doctrine

A petition for change of name must state the petitioner's real or official name, and that requirement is jurisdictional. The real or official name is the name under which the petitioner is officially recorded — here, the name in the records of the Local Civil Registrar and in the Certificate of Naturalization. A sincere desire to adopt a Filipino name, to erase signs of a former nationality that hamper social and business life, to do away with aliases, and to avoid confusion, constitutes a proper and reasonable cause for change of name. The sufficiency of that ground is a question of fact, and the Supreme Court will not review the appellate court's finding thereon.

Disposition

The Supreme Court affirmed the appealed decision of the Intermediate Appellate Court, without pronouncement as to costs, so the change of name to Kenneth Kiana So stands.

Remember This

Memorize this line: the petition must state the petitioner's real or official name, and that is jurisdictional. Examiners use this case to test the jurisdictional requirement in Rule 103 proceedings and the rule that the sufficiency of the ground for change of name is a finding of fact beyond Supreme Court review.