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EN BANC

G.R. No. L-19575 February 26, 1965

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF HARRY ONG PING SENG TO BE ADMITTED A CITIZEN OF THE PHILIPPINES.
HARRY ONG PING SENG, petitioner-appellee, vs. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, oppositor-appellant.

H. M. Abdon and A. R. Narvasa for petitioner-appellee.
Office of the Solicitor General for oppositor-appellant.

CONCEPCION, J.:chanrobles virtual law library

The Solicitor General seeks the reversal of a decision of the Court of First Instance of Manila granting the petition for naturalization of appellee Harry Ong Ping Seng.chanroblesvirtualawlibrarychanrobles virtual law library

Appellant maintains that the lower court erred in not finding: (1) that appellee's petition is invalid; (2) that he is not a person of good moral character; (3) that he has neither mingled socially with the Filipinos nor evinced a sincere desire to embrace the customs, traditions and ideals of the Filipinos; and (4) that he does not speak and write Tagalog.chanroblesvirtualawlibrarychanrobles virtual law library

Upon a review of the record we find that the appeal is well taken, for: (a) in the statement for the payment of his additional residence certificate for the year 1961, appellee declared that his gross income for the preceding year 1960 was only P8,800 (see Exhibit L-1), although the amount set forth in his income tax return for that year is P13,172.85, thus showing that his moral character is not as good as it should be; (b) his three (3) children were enrolled in a school run and operated by Chinese citizens, the student body of which consists mainly of Chinese nationals - the Hope Christian High School at 1242 Benavides Street, Manila, whose principal teacher is S. H. Wang - thus indicating that petitioner has not evinced a sincere desire to mingle socially with the Filipinos and to embrace their customs, traditions and ideals; (c) the test to which he was submitted in the lower court did not satisfactorily establish that he had sufficient knowledge of the Tagalog dialect, the local principal language which he claims to speak and write; and (d) appellee's petition for naturalization states, as regards his residence, "1643 Zurbaran Street, Sta. Cruz, Manila and former residences were 323-B Zurbaran, Sta. Cruz, Manila," notwithstanding the fact that prior thereto he had, also, resided in other places in Manila - No. 285 Blumentritt, No. 631 Mayhaligue, and No. 589 Gandara - thereby violating Section 7 of the Revised Naturalization Law (Comm. Act No. 473, as amended), which requires that the petitioner for naturalization should give not only his present address, but, also, his former places of residence, thus warranting denial of the petition for naturalization (see Ong Tai vs. Republic, G.R. No. L-19418, December 23,1964; Qua vs. Republic, G.R. No. L-19834, October 27, 1964; Gaw Ching vs. Republic, G.R. No. L-19419, September 30, 1964; Ngo vs. Republic, G.R. No. L-18319, May 31, 1963; Sehwani vs. Republic, G.R. No. L-18219, December 27, 1963; Co Bon The vs. Republic, G.R. No. L-16813, December 27, 1963; Koa Gui vs. Republic, G.R. No. L-13717, July 31, 1962; Keng Giok vs. Republic, G.R. No. L-13347, August 31, 1961; Pidelo vs. Republic, G.R. No. L-7796, September 29, 1955).chanroblesvirtualawlibrarychanrobles virtual law library

WHEREFORE, the decision appealed from is hereby reversed and appellee's petition, accordingly is dismissed with costs against him. It is so ordered.

Bengzon, C.J., Bautista Angelo, Reyes, J.B.L., Barrera, Paredes, Regala, Makalintal, Bengzon, J.P., and Zaldivar, JJ., concur.
Dizon, J., took no part.