Roa vs. Insular Collector of Customs

A child born in the Philippines to a domiciled alien father and a native mother, whose father dies during the child's minority and whose mother thereafter reacquires Philippine citizenship, is deemed a Philippine citizen, especially when the child returns upon majority and elects the nationality of his birthplace.

Following the cession of the Philippines to the United States via the Treaty of Paris (1898), the political status of inhabitants was determined by U.S. law, primarily the Philippine Bill of 1902. The Chinese Exclusion Acts were applied in the islands, barring Chinese laborers and subjects from entry. The case tested the citizenship of a person born under Spanish rule but seeking entry under American sovereignty.

• Filed via a petition for habeas corpus in the Court of First Instance (CFI) of Cebu.
• The CFI remanded Roa to the custody of the Collector of Customs for deportation.
• Roa appealed directly to the Supreme Court.

• Tranquilino Roa was born in Luculan, Mindanao, on July 6, 1889.
• His father, Basilio Roa Uy Tiong Co, was a Chinese national domiciled in the Philippines.
• His mother, Basilia Rodriguez, was a native Filipino.
• His parents were legally married. His father died in China around 1900.
• In May 1901, Roa's mother sent him to China for the sole purpose of studying, with the intent to return.
• He returned to the Philippines on October 1, 1910, a few days under 21 years and 3 months of age.
• The Board of Special Inquiry denied him entry, finding he was a Chinese subject. The Insular Collector of Customs affirmed.

• Roa, born in the Philippines, was a native inhabitant.
• Upon attaining majority, he exercised his right of election to be a citizen of the Philippine Islands.
• The Board of Special Inquiry abused its discretion by ignoring his declaration of election to Philippine citizenship.

• Under the Spanish Civil Code (Art. 18), a legitimate child takes the nationality of his father during minority.
• Roa's father was a Chinese subject; therefore, Roa was a Chinese subject.
• The provisions of the Treaty of Paris and the Philippine Bill regarding Spanish subjects did not apply to him.
• Under the Chinese Exclusion Laws, he was not entitled to enter.

• Procedural Issues: N/A
• Substantive Issues:
  • Whether a child born in the Philippines in 1889 of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, domiciled there, became a citizen of the Philippines at birth or could elect such citizenship upon reaching majority.
  • Whether such a person could be excluded under the Chinese Exclusion Acts upon his return from a temporary absence abroad.

• Procedural: N/A
• Substantive: The SC ruled in favor of Roa.
• The Spanish Civil Code provisions on citizenship (political laws) were abrogated upon the cession of the Philippines to the United States.
• While Roa's status during his father's lifetime was governed by Spanish law (making him a Chinese subject), the subsequent facts changed his political status.
• Upon his father's death, his mother (then a widow residing in the Philippines) ipso facto reacquired Philippine citizenship under American principles.
• As a minor under her guardianship, Roa's domicile and, by logical consequence, his nationality followed that of his mother.
• Furthermore, Roa, upon reaching majority and returning to his native country, elected to be a citizen of the Philippine Islands.
• Therefore, he was a Philippine citizen and not subject to the Chinese Exclusion Acts.

• Jus Soli (Right of the Soil) — The principle that citizenship is acquired by birth within a country's territory. The SC noted this was the predominant rule in the United States and was extended to the Philippines in a limited form by the Philippine Bill of 1902 (Sec. 4).
• Jus Sanguinis (Right of Blood) — The principle that citizenship is determined by the nationality of one's parents. This was the general rule under the Spanish Civil Code.
• Right of Election — The principle that a person born under certain circumstances may, upon reaching majority, choose their nationality. The SC held this right was available to Roa.
• Abrogation of Political Laws upon Cession — Upon the transfer of sovereignty, the political laws of the former sovereign (which regulate the relation of inhabitants to the state) cease to be in force. The Spanish laws on citizenship were deemed abrogated.
• Ipso Facto Reacquisition of Citizenship — The principle that a woman who lost her citizenship by marriage to an alien reacquires it automatically upon the dissolution of the marriage (by death of the husband) if she is then residing in her native country.

• "No principle has been more repeatedly announced by the judicial tribunals of the country, and more constantly acted upon, than that the leaning, in questions of citizenship, should always be in favor of the claimant of it." (Quoting Boyd vs. Thayer)
• "The intent of the law-makers is the law."
• "To so hold would have the effect of excluding the appellant from his native country, from home and all that home means, from his mother, brothers, and sisters, and compel him to live in practically a strange country and among strange people."

• United States vs. Wong Kim Ark (169 U.S. 649) — Cited extensively as the leading U.S. case affirming jus soli under the 14th Amendment. The SC used its reasoning by analogy, though noting the U.S. Constitution did not apply ex propio vigore to the Philippines.
• Gonzales vs. Williams (192 U.S. 1) — Cited to show that inhabitants of Puerto Rico (and by analogy, the Philippines) under similar treaty and statutory provisions were not considered "aliens" within the meaning of U.S. immigration laws.
• Boyd vs. Thayer (143 U.S. 135) — Cited for the principle that in questions of citizenship, the leaning should be in favor of the claimant.

• Treaty of Paris (1898), Art. IX — Provided that the civil rights and political status of native inhabitants would be determined by the U.S. Congress.
• Philippine Bill of 1902 (Act of Congress, July 1, 1902), Sec. 4 — Deemed all inhabitants who were Spanish subjects on April 11, 1899, and their children born thereafter, to be citizens of the Philippine Islands.
• Spanish Civil Code (1889), Arts. 17, 18, 19 — The provisions on Spanish nationality in force at Roa's birth. The SC found these were abrogated by the change of sovereignty.
• Chinese Exclusion Acts — Applied in the Philippines but held inapplicable to persons found to be Philippine citizens.

• Justice Johnson — Concurred only in the result. (No separate opinion detailed in the text).

• N/A (The decision was unanimous in result).