Important Provisions under RA 9139

Section 11. Status of Alien Wife and Minor Children. - After the approval of the petition for
administrative naturalization in cancellation of applicant's alien certificate of registration, applicant's
alien lawful wife and minor children may file a petition for cancellation of their alien certificates of
registration with the Committee subject to the payment of the filing fee of Twenty thousand pesos
(P20,000.00) and naturalization fee of Forty thousand pesos (P40,000.00) payable as follows:
Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) upon the approval of the petition and Twenty thousand pesos
(P20,000.00) upon the taking of the oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines.

Section 12. Status of Alien Husband and Minor Children. - If the applicant is a married woman, the
approval of her petition for administrative naturalization will not benefit her alien husband but her
minor children may file a petition for cancellation of their alien certificates of registration with the BI
subject to the requirements of existing laws.

On Burca vs. Republic

on the specific legal status of an alien woman married to a citizen of the Philippines, Congress in
paragraph 1, Section 15 of the Revised Naturalization Law legislated the following:

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.

Jurisprudence has since stabilized the import of the constitutional and statutory precepts just quoted
with a uniform pronouncement that an alien wife of a Filipino citizen may not acquire the status of a
citizen of the Philippines unless there is proof that she herself may be lawfully naturalized. 2 Which
means that, in line with the national policy of selective admission to Philippine citizenship, the wife
must possess the qualifications under Section 2, and must not be laboring under any of the
disqualifications enumerated in Section 4, of the Revised Naturalization Law.3

CA 473 Revised Naturalization Law

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 within 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
proceedings. 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 been rendered during the life of the petitioner.