[COMMONWEALTH ACT 473]
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ACQUISITION OF PHILIPPINE CITIZENSHIP BY
NATURALIZATION, AND TO REPEAL ACTS NUMBERED TWENTY-NINE
HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN AND THIRTY-FOUR HUNDRED AND
FORTY-EIGHT.
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SEC. 3. Special qualifications. The ten years of continuous residence required
under the second condition of the last preceding section shall be understood as reduced
to five years for any petitioner having any of the following qualifications:
(1) Having honorably held office under the Government of the Philippines or
under that of any of the provinces, cities, municipalities, or political
subdivisions thereof;
(2) Having established a new industry or introduced a useful invention in the
Philippines;
(3) Being married to a Filipino woman;
(4) Having been engaged as a teacher in the Philippines in a public or recognized
private school not established for the exclusive instruction of children of
persons of a particular nationality or race, in any of the branches of education
or industry for a period of not less than two years;
(5) Having been born in the Philippines.
SEC. 4. Petition for citizenship. Any person desiring to acquire Philippine
citizenship shall file with the competent court, a petition in triplicate, accompanied by
two photographs of the petitioner, setting forth his name and surname; his present and
former places of residence; his occupation; the place and date of his birth; whether single
or married and the father of children, the name, age, birthplace and residence of the wife
and of each of the children; the approximate date of his or her arrival in the Philippines,
the name of the port of debarkation, and, if he remembers it, the name of the ship on
which he came; a declaration that he has the qualifications required by this Act,
specifying the same, and that he is not qualified for naturalization under the provisions of
this Act; that he has complied with the requirements of section five of this Act; and that
he will reside continuously in the Philippines from the date of the filing of the petition up
to the time of his admission to Philippine citizenship. The petition must be signed by the
applicant in his own handwriting and be supported by the affidavit of at least two credible
persons, stating that they are citizens of the Philippines and personally know the
petitioner to be a resident of the Philippines for the period of time required by this Act
and a person of good repute and morally irreproachable, and that said petitioner has in
Commonwealth Act 473
their opinion all the qualifications necessary to become a citizen of the Philippines and is
not in any way disqualified under the provisions of this Act. The petition shall also set
forth the names and post office addresses of such witnesses as the petitioner may desire
to introduce at the hearing of the case. The certificate of arrival, and the declaration of
intention must be made part of the petition.
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SEC. 15. Effect of the naturalization on wife and children. Any woman who is
now or may hereafter be married to a citizen of the Philippines, and who might herself be
lawfully naturalized shall be deemed a citizen of the Philippines.
Minor children of persons naturalized under this law who have been born in the
Philippines shall be considered citizens thereof.
A foreign-born minor child, if dwelling in the Philippines at the time of the
naturalization of the parent, shall automatically become a Philippine citizen, and a
foreign-born minor child, who is not in the Philippines at the time the parent is
naturalized, shall be deemed a Philippine citizen only during his minority, unless he
begins to reside permanently in the Philippines when still a minor, in which case, he will
continue to be a Philippine citizen even after becoming of age.
A child born outside of the Philippines after the naturalization of his parent, shall
be considered a Philippine citizen, unless one year after reaching the age of majority, he
fails to register himself as a Philippine citizen at the American Consulate of the country
where he resides, and to take the necessary oath of allegiance.
SEC. 16. Right of widow and children of petitioners who have died. In case a
petitioner should die before the final decision has been rendered, his widow and minor
children may continue the proceeding. The decision rendered in the case shall, so far as
the widow and minor children are concerned, produce the same legal effect as if it had
rendered during the life of the petitioner.
Approved, June 17, 1939.
Commonwealth Act No. 473
