Dear Atty. Joji,
I am a Filipino and my mother has been living in Denmark for more than 20 years already this year. Because of her long residence in that country, she has already acquired Danish citizenship. She told me that she hasn’t renounced her Filipino citizenship. Is she still a Filipino? Thanks, attorney.
Felia
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Dear Felia,
According to the Philippine Constitution, “Philippine citizenship may be lost or reacquired in the manner provided by law.”
Commonwealth Act No. 63, also known as “An Act providing for the ways in which a Philippine Citizenship may be lost or acquired,” states that a Filipino citizen may lose his citizenship by naturalization in a foreign country (Section 1).
Applying this said law, your mother lost her Filipino citizenship upon her naturalization in a foreign country, in her case Denmark. However, under Republic Act (RA) 225 or the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003, also known as the Dual Citizenship Law, she may re-acquire her Filipino citizenship if she’s a natural-born Filipino citizen.
Under the Philippine Constitution, natural -born citizens are “… those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship. Those who elect Philippine citizenship in accordance with paragraph (3), Section 1 hereof shall be deemed natural-born citizens.”
RA 9225 provides among other things that natural-born Filipino citizens who have previously acquired foreign citizenship shall re-acquire their Filipino citizenships upon taking the oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines.
Hope this helps.
Atty. Joji Alonso