Moy Ya Lim Yao v. Commissioner of Immigration, 41 SCRA 292
G.R. No. L-21289 October 4, 1971
MOY YA LIM YAO alias EDILBERTO AGUINALDO LIM and LAU YUEN
YEUNG, petitioners-appellants,
vs.
THE COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION, respondent-appellee.
FACTS:
February 8, 1961 - Lau Yuen Yeung is a Chinese residing in Kowloon, Hong Kong. She applied
for a passport visa to enter the Philippines as a non-immigrant to visit her grand uncle for a
period of 1 month. When she arrived, a bond amounting to P1,000. After repeated extensions,
petitioner Lau Yuen Yeung was allowed to stay in the Philippines up to February 13, 1962. On
January 25, 1962, she contracted marriage with Moy Ya Lim Yao alias Edilberto Aguinaldo Lim,
an alleged Filipino citizen. By the time that Commissioner of Immigration contemplated action
of confiscating her bond and ordering her arrest and immediate deportation, she filed for
preliminary injunction. At the hearing which took place one and a half years after her arrival, it
was admitted that petitioner 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 sistersin-law. Instant petition for injunction cannot be sustained and petitioners appealed.
ISSUE:
WON Lau Yuen Yeung given the facts can become a Filipino Citizen upon her marriage to a
Filipino.
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.
Lau Yuen Yeung, who is hereby declared to have become a Filipino citizen from and by virtue of
her marriage to her co-appellant Moy Ya Lim Yao alias Edilberto Aguinaldo Lim, a Filipino
citizen on January 25, 1962. No costs.