Use of Surnames Legitimate Children

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CIVIL LAW; PERSONS; USE OF SURNAMES; LEGITIMATE

CHILDREN SHALL PRINCIPALLY USE THE SURNAME OF THE
FATHER. — Petitioners have proved that their correct surname is
"Sison." It was error for their father, Antonio, to have entered "dela
Cruz" as his surname in his marriage contract and in the Birth
Certificates of his children, for, at the time of Antonio's birth, on May 10,
1935, his mother was then the wife of Aurelio Sison, whom she had
married in 1931. Antonio's father was Aurelio Sison. Although at the
time of his marriage in 1962, Antonio's mother was then the
wife of Laurencio dela Cruz, whom she married in 1942, our laws do not
authorize legitimate children to adopt the surname of a person who is
not their father (Article 364, Civil Code; Padilla vs. Republic, 113 SCRA
789(1982)).
2. REMEDIAL LAW; SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS;
CHANGE OF NAME; ONLY BY APPROPRIATE PROCEEDING
UNDER RULE 103, RULES OF COURT. — Procedurally, the only way
by which a name can be changed legally is by appropriate proceeding
under Rule 103 of the Rules of Court; that is, through
a Petition for Change of Name, since a person's legal name is what
appears in the civil register, not the name by which he was baptized or
by which he has been known in the community (Chomi vs. Local Civil
Registrar of Manila, 99 Phil. 1004 [1956]).
3. ID.; ID.; SUMMARY
PROCEDURE FOR CORRECTION OF ENTRIES IN CIVIL REGISTRY;
DEEMED ONE FOR JUDICIAL AUTHORITY TO CHANGE NAMES IN
CASE AT BAR. — The petition in this case may well be, in essence,
one for judicial authority to change
names, for the petition prays for "correction of names and more
specifically for an order" to make the necessary corrections in the
respective certificates of birth of petitioners by registering their names
therein as Danilo Sison y Ibarra and Josephine Sison y Ibarra (San
Roque vs. Republic, 23 SCRA 444 [1968]).
4. ID.; ID.; ID.; MATERIAL CORRECTIONS OR AMENDMENTS
FORBIDDEN. — In Matias vs. Republic, 28 SCRA 31(1969) per Acting
Chief Justice J.B.L. Reyes, "Granting that the supplying of a name that
was left blank in the original recording of the birth does not constitute,
as contended by the Solicitor General, a rectification of a mere clerical
error, it is well to observe that the doctrine of the case of Ty Kong Tin v.
Republic, 94 Phil. 321, and subsequent adjudications predicated
thereon, forbade only the entering of material corrections or
amendments in the record of birth by virtue of a judgment in a summary
action against the Civil Registrar."
5. ID.; ID.; ID.; PROCEEDINGS IN CASE AT BAR NOT
SUMMARY. — In this case, the proceedings below were not summary
pursuant to the ruling in the Matias case and in the more recent
one of Kumala Salim Wing vs. Ahmad Abubakar, Civil Registrar of the
Municipality of Jolo, et al. (102 SCRA 523 [1981]), penned by Mr. Chief
Justice Enrique M. Fernando, where copies of the Petition and the
Amended Petition were served on the Solicitor General. The
order of the trial court setting the petition for hearing was duly published
in a newspaper of general circulation once a week for three consecutive
weeks. Copy of that order was likewise furnished the Solicitor General.
Notwithstanding that all interested persons were cited to appear to
show cause why the petition should not be granted, no one appeared to
oppose except the State through the Solicitor General. But neither did
the State present evidence in support of its Opposition. There was a
hearing on the merits where the State was duly represented and cross-
examined petitioners and their witness. No doubt is cast on the
credibility of petitioners' allegations nor upon the evidence adduced by
them. Absent, too, is any showing that prejudice would result to any
party interested. (Matias vs. Republic, 28 SCRA 31[1969]).
DE CASTRO, J., concurring:
1. REMEDIAL LAW; SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS;
CANCELLATION OR CORRECTION OF ENTRIES IN CIVIL
REGISTRY; NOT A SUMMARY ACTION. — Justice de Castro takes
the view that the action contemplated under Rule 108 of the
Rules of Court is not a summary action, and renders obsolete rulings
denying authority to the courts to order correction of more than mere
harmless clerical errors in the Civil Registry. The instant decision would
seem to sustain the dissenting opinion of Justice de Castro in Wong vs.
Republic, L-29276, July 30, 1982 and Republic vs. de la Cruz, L-34079,
November 2, 1982, which, it is hoped, will henceforth be regarded as
the prevailing doctrine.
MAKASIAR, J., dissenting:
1. REMEDIAL LAW; SPECIAL
PROCEEDINGS; PETITION FOR CANCELLATION
OR CORRECTION OF ENTRIES IN CIVIL REGISTRY; LACHES
WARRANT DISMISSAL IN CASE AT BAR. —
The petition for correction of surname should be dismissed. The father,
Antonio Sison, during his lifetime, had all the time to cause
the correction of the record of birth in the Local Civil Registrar's Office
from 1962 until his death on March 14, 1978. Neither he nor his wife,
the mother of the children, filed any such petition for correction so that
he, with his wife, could have explained personally the discrepancy in
the surname of the two children appearing in the Civil Registry on the
one hand and in the church as well as the school record on the other.
2. ID.; ID.; CANCELLATION OR CORRECTION OF ENTRIES IN
CIVIL REGISTRY; NOTICE BY PUBLICATION NOT SUFFICIENT. —
All persons interested in the estate of the deceased Antonio Sison and
the heirs of Antonio's stepfather, Laurencio de la Cruz, who died in
1942 were not personally notified of, nor heard on
the petition for correction. Notice by publication will not suffice since
these interested persons are known to the grandmother, Gertrudes
Reyes, Antonio's mother, who assisted herein petitioners in this case.
Rights of third persons may also be prejudiced by
the petition for correction, which rights should also be determined in an
appropriate proceeding.
3. CRIMINAL LAW; FALSIFICATION OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS;
COMMITTED WHERE ENTRIES IN THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT
AND BIRTH CERTIFICATES FALSIFIED. — The majority opinion does
not intimate any possible effect on the criminal liability of the
spouses for falsifying the entries in the marriage contract and birth
certificates. The crime was concealed from the authorities until
February 20, 1979 when the Solicitor General was served with a
copy of the amended petition.
(In Re: Sison v. Republic, G.R. No. L-58087, [December 27, 1982],
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204 PHIL 757-768)

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CIVIL LAW; PERSONS; USE OF SURNAMES; LEGITIMATE

204 PHIL 757-768)

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