MOY YA LIM YAO VS.

COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION

Facts:

On 13 March 1961, Lau Yuen Yeung, a Chinese residing at Kowloon, Hongkong, was permitted to come
into the Philippines for a period of one month until 13 April 1961 through a non-immigrant visa. On the
date of her arrival, Asher Y. Cheng filed a bond in the amount of P1,000.00 to undertake, among others,
that said Lau Yuen Yeung would actually depart from the Philippines on or before the expiration of her
authorized period of stay in this country or within the period as in his discretion the Commissioner of
Immigration or his authorized representative might properly allow. After repeated extensions, Lau Yuen
Yeung was allowed to stay in the Philippines up to 13 February 1962.

On 25 January 1962, she contracted marriage with Moy Ya Lim Yao alias Edilberto Aguinaldo Lim an
alleged Filipino citizen. Because of the contemplated action of the Commissioner of Immigration to
confiscate her bond and order her arrest and immediate deportation, after the expiration of her authorized
stay, she brought an action for injunction with preliminary injunction. At the hearing which took place one
and a half years after her arrival, it was admitted that Lau Yuen Yeung could not write either English or
Tagalog. Except for a few words, she could not speak either English or Tagalog. She could not name any
Filipino neighbor, with a Filipino name except one, Rosa. She did not know the names of her brothers-in-
law, or sisters-in-law. The Court of First Instance of Manila denied the prayer for preliminary injunction.
Moya Lim Yao and Lau Yuen Yeung appealed.

Issue:

Whether Lau Yuen Yeung ipso facto became a Filipino citizen upon her marriage to a Filipino citizen.

Held:

Under Section 15 of Commonwealth Act 473, an alien woman marrying a Filipino, native born or
naturalized, becomes ipso facto a Filipina provided she is not disqualified to be a citizen of the Philippines
under Section 4 of the same law. Likewise, an alien woman married to an alien who is subsequently
naturalized here follows the Philippine citizenship of her husband the moment he takes his oath as
Filipino citizen, provided that she does not suffer from any of the disqualifications under said Section 4.
Whether the alien woman requires to undergo the naturalization proceedings, Section 15 is a parallel
provision to Section 16. Thus, if the widow of an applicant for naturalization as Filipino, who dies during
the proceedings, is not required to go through a naturalization proceedings, in order to be considered as a
Filipino citizen hereof, it should follow that the wife of a living Filipino cannot be denied the same
privilege. 

This is plain common sense and there is absolutely no evidence that the Legislature intended to treat
them differently. As the laws of our country, both substantive and procedural, stand today, there is no
such procedure (a substitute for naturalization proceeding to enable the alien wife of a Philippine citizen to
have the matter of her own citizenship settled and established so that she may not have to be called upon
to prove it every time she has to perform an act or enter into a transaction or business or exercise a right
reserved only to Filipinos), but such is no proof that the citizenship is not vested as of the date of marriage
or the husband's acquisition of citizenship, as the case may be, for the truth is that the situation obtains
even as to native-born Filipinos. Every time the citizenship of a person is material or indispensible in a
judicial or administrative case, whatever the corresponding court or administrative authority decides
therein as to such citizenship is generally not considered as res adjudicata, hence it has to be threshed
out again and again as the occasion may demand. Lau Yuen Yeung, was declared to have become a
Filipino citizen from and by virtue of her marriage to Moy Ya Lim Yao al as Edilberto Aguinaldo Lim, a
Filipino citizen of 25 January 1962.
Notes:
Section 4 of CA 473. DISQUALIFICATIONS:
1. Person opposed to organised government or affiliate with any associations or group of persons who
uphold and teach doctrines opposing all organised governments.
2. Persons defending or teaching the necessity
of propriety of violence, personal assault, or assassination for the success and predominance of their
ideas.
3. Polygamists, or believers in the practice of polygamy.
4. Persons convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.
5. Persons suffering from mental alienation or incurable contagious diseases.
6. Persons who, during the period of their residence in the Philippines, have not mingled socially with the
Filipinos, or who have not evinced a sincere desire to learn and embrace the customs, traditions, and
ideals of the Filipinos.
7. Citizens or subjects of nations with whom the Philippines are at war, during the period of such war.
8. Citizens or subjects of  a foreign country other than United States, whose laws does not grant Filipinos
the right to become naturalized citizens or subjects thereof.