[ G.R. No. L-1675. July 30, 1949 ]

[ G.R. No. L-1675. July 30, 1949 ]

[ G.R. No. L-1675. July 30, 1949 ]

LOCK BEN PING (ALIAS JOSEPH LOCK BEN PING), PETITIONER AND APPELLEE, VS. THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, OPPOSITOR AND APPELLANT.

D E C I S I O N

PARAS, J.:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Court of First Instance of Cebu granting the petition for naturalization as a Filipino citizen of Lock Ben Ping alias Joseph Lock Ben Ping.

The petitioner is a citizen or subject of China, his legal qualifications to become a Filipino citizen is not questioneds and the only contention raised by the Solicitor General In his brief refers to the alleged failure of the petitioner to establish by competent evidence that under the laws of his country Filipinos may become naturalized citizens or subjects thereof. Specifically, it is insisted, for the appellant that the purported copy of the Chinese Naturalization Law (presented in evidence by the petitioner) should not have been considered by the lower court, because it was certified to merely by the Chinese Consul in the Philippines who is not the custodian of the original law. We need not pass upon this proposition, for "this Court has already accepted it as a fact in previous naturalization cases that the laws of China permit Filipinos to naturalise in that country." (Yee Bo Mann vs. Republic of the Philippines, G. R. No. L-1606, May 28, 1949.)

The appealed judgment is therefore affirmed, without costs. So ordered. Moran, C.J., Ozaeta, Feria, Bengzon, Padilla, Tuason, Montemayor, and Reyes, JJ., concur.