MANILA, 30 August 2003 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday signed into law the long-awaited dual citizenship bill, a measure that will allow Filipinos who have become citizens of other countries out of necessity to regain their Philippine citizenship.
In the same manner, the new law allows Filipinos to keep their Philippine citizenship even if they have to become citizens of other countries for any reason such as marriage or work.
“This bill will foster unity among Filipinos here and abroad,”Arroyo said as she the signed the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003 (Republic Act 9225) in a simple ceremony at Malaca?ang Palace.
Eleven overseas Filipinos, who had become citizens of other countries, became the first recipients of the law after the president symbolically administered the oath of citizenship to them.
They were Ofelia Mananquil-Bakker, Yolanda Stern, Jaime Romero, Reynaldo Cuenca, Sonia Cuenca, Rodrigo Vicerra, Rene Pascual, Vicky Pascual, Pres Ordinario, Fred Bibaoco Jr., and Jun de Leon. The 11 were among the overseas Filipinos who clamored and actively campaigned for the bill.
Senate President Franklin Drilon, the main sponsor of the bill, said: “It is our affirmation to the age-old adage that ‘once a Filipino, always a Filipino,’”
“The passage of this bill is an affirmation that the Filipino people embrace our Filipino brothers abroad and that we highly appreciate their continued contribution in keeping our economy afloat,” he said.
According to Drilon, RA 9225 amends Commonwealth Act No. 63 to allow Filipinos abroad the “opportunity to progress economically and socially in their adopted countries, without being placed under the pain of bring stripped of their Philippine citizenship once they become naturalized citizens of other countries and, in the process, be considered aliens in their own homeland.”
It is expected to bring in huge equity investments from Filipino-Americans who would be encouraged to return to the Philippines either to invest their money and expertise or eventually settle down here. In the United States alone, close to a million Filipinos would benefit from the bill.
Heherson Alvarez, Arroyo’s adviser on overseas Filipino communities, said the passage of the dual citizenship law enables overseas Filipinos to again “exercise their prerogative of being a Filipino in their right to vote, invest in the land or in economic activities reserved for Filipino citizens.”
Under the citizenship law enacted 67 years ago, natural-born Filipinos who become citizens of another country automatically lose their Philippine citizenship.
Under the new law, all that is needed to regain that lost citizenship is by taking an oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines.
Opponents of the new law have argued that Filipinos who have surrendered their Philippine citizenship in favor of another country did not deserve to be pampered by the Philipine government.
Drilon countered that Philippine laws should take cognizance of the fact that majority of Filipinos who migrated abroad did so for better opportunities, not because they did not love their country.
At least 89 countries allow some form of dual or multiple citizenships, including the US, UK, Canada, France, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, Russia, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Even such staunchly nationalistic countries as Israel and Cuba allow their citizens to retain their citizenship after being naturalized in another country, Drilon noted.
