Q. Good day attorney. I just want to ask if Filipino recognition issued by the Bureau of Immigration(BI) is one and the same as that of a Dual citizenship? I’m confused about these things. I hope you can clarify and enlighten your reader on this issue . Marvin
Ans: Recognition per se, is granted to individuals who from the time of birth are Filipino Citizen pursuant to the Philippine Constitution. Usually, cases of recognition are common to individuals who was born with one or both parents as being a Filipino citizen at the time of the birth of the said child. Under the doctrine and principle of the so called jus sanguinis where ones citizenship is based on the blood relations of the child with the parent(s). In this particular case, the child could have a dual citizenship at the time of birth. That of a Filipino and the Citizenship of one of the parents.
The issue of recognition is usually engendered when the birth of such person within or outside the Philippines was not registered with the local civil registry in the Philippines or with the Philippine Consulate abroad. Hence, in the absence of the child’s birth certificate registration, there will be no basis for the government of the Philippines, to determine the citizenship of the individual notwithstanding that such person is a Filipino citizen under the Philippine law and could also be a citizen of the country where one of his parents is a citizen.
Under this situation, the said person who wish to be recognized as Filipino citizen pursuant to Philippine law, has to file a petition for recognition with the Bureau of Immigration(BI) and in doing so, one has to prove that at the time birth he or she is considered as Filipino citizen for reason that one or both of his parents was or were Filipino citizen at the time of his or her birth.
However, if the birth of the child was registered in the Philippines and the birth certificate shows his or her Philippine citizenship, then there is no need for the child to apply for recognition. In fact with his Birth Certificate showing that the child is a Filipino citizen, one can apply for the issuance of Philippine passport notwithstanding that the child could be a citizen of another country and/or is a holder of a foreign passport as well.
Dual Citizenship on the other hand , under Republic Act No. 9225, grants to a natural- born Filipino citizen, who has become a naturalized citizen of another country, the right of retention or reacquisition of his or her Philippine Citizenship, by merely taking his oath of allegiance to the Philippine Constitution before our Philippine Consulate or before Philippine Authorities authorized to administer such oath of allegiance in the Philippines and with out necessarily losing his or her foreign citizenship in the process.
The principle being is that under the Dual Citizenship and Retention Act (RA 9225), natural-born Filipino citizen is deemed not lost at the time of his or her becoming a foreign citizen. However, this law is applicable only to a natural-born citizen. A natural-born citizen, is one who from the time of birth is Filipino citizen with out having to perform any act in order to perfect his or her Philippine citizenship , pursuant to the Philippine Constitution.
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