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Civ Rev 1 Rowe Vs Republic

The court ruled that while correcting the petitioner's name from "Beatriz Labayo" to "Emperatriz Labayo" was allowed as a clerical error, changing the petitioner's civil status from "married" to "not married" and the child's status from "legitimate" to "illegitimate" was not. Such changes would substantially impact the child's rights and subject her to stigma, and thus require full adversarial proceedings. The court modified the lower court's order to only allow the correction of petitioner's name.

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142 views2 pages

Civ Rev 1 Rowe Vs Republic

The court ruled that while correcting the petitioner's name from "Beatriz Labayo" to "Emperatriz Labayo" was allowed as a clerical error, changing the petitioner's civil status from "married" to "not married" and the child's status from "legitimate" to "illegitimate" was not. Such changes would substantially impact the child's rights and subject her to stigma, and thus require full adversarial proceedings. The court modified the lower court's order to only allow the correction of petitioner's name.

Uploaded by

OM Molins
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Title: Labayo-Rowe v.

Republic
G.R. No. L-53417 Gancayco, J. December 8, 1988

Doctrine: If the purpose of the petition is merely to correct the clerical errors
which are visible to the eye or obvious to the understanding, the court may, under a
summary procedure, issue an order for the correction of the mistake.
Topic: Civil Register (Rule 108
However, as repeatedly construed, changes which affect the civil status from may of ROC)
legitimate to illegitimate, as well as sex, are substantial and controversial alterations
which can only be allowed after appropriate adversary proceedings depending upon
the nature of the issues involved.

Facts:

On November 18, 1970, Emperatriz Labayo-Rowe, petitioner below, filed through counsel a
petition for the correction of entries in the civil registry with the then Court of First Instance of
Pampanga. She asked the court to order the Local Civil Registrar of San Fernando, Pampanga
to correct the entries in the birth certificates of her children Vicente L. Miclat, Jr. and Victoria
Miclat especially with regard to petitioner's name which appears in both certificates as "Beatriz
Labayo-Labayu and as regards her civil status and date of marriage which appears in the birth
certificate of Victoria Miclat as "married" with the year appearing "1953 Bulan."

In the order dated December 3, 1970, Judge Malcolm Sarmiento, finding the petition to be
sufficient in form and substance, granted the petition and set the case for hearing on January
20, 1971.  As directed by the court, the said order was published in Voice, a local newspaper of
general circulation in Pampanga for three (3) consecutive weeks, particularly in its issues of
December 6, 13, and 20, 1970. The Republic was represented by Assistant Provincial Fiscal
Jose R. Paras who appeared for the Solicitor General.

At the hearing, petitioner testified that her nickname is Beatriz and Emperatriz J. Labayo is her
real name; that the entry in Victoria Miclat's birth certificate stating her civil status as "married" is
not correct because she was never married to Vicente Miclat, the father of her child; that the
date and place of marriage appearing in the said birth certificate as 1953-Bulan is not true as
they were never married; that the questioned entries were reported by Vicente Miclat; and that
she is at present married to an American by the name of William Rowe.

RTC:

The presiding judge issued an order dated January 25, 1971 directing the local civil registrar of
San Fernando, Pampanga to correct the entries under Register No. 2083, Series of 1961, and
to change the name of the mother appearing as Beatriz Labayo to Emperatriz Labayo. The
court also directed the civil registrar to correct the name of the mother appearing as Beatriz V.
Labayu/Beatriz to Emperatriz Labayo, her civil status from "married" to "single" and the date and
place of marriage from "1953-Bulan" to "No marriage."

Contention of the Republic

The Republic questions the propriety of the lower court's order to correct the civil status and the
date and place of marriage of the petitioner below as appearing in the birth certificate of Victoria
Miclat. The Republic prays for the reversal of the order of the lower court dated January 25,
1971. It likewise prayed that the appeal be elevated to this Court as it involves a pure question
of law. 

Issue: Whether or not the corrections sought by the petitioners should be granted.

Ruling:

Not all the corrections sought should be granted.

Article 412 of the Civil Code provides that "(n)o entry in a civil register shall be changed or
corrected without judicial order." It has been held that the corrections contemplated in Article
412 include only corrections of mistakes that are clerical in nature. In Go vs. Civil Registrar of
the Municipality of Malabon, this Court ruled that the clerical errors which might be corrected
through judicial sanction under the said article should be those harmless and innocuous
changes such as the correction of names clearly misspelled,  occupation of parents, errors that
are visible to the eye or obvious to the understanding, errors made by a clerk or transcriber, or a
mistake in copying or writing.

If the purpose of the petition is merely to correct the clerical errors which are visible to the eye or
obvious to the understanding, the court may, under a summary procedure, issue an order for
the correction of the mistake. However, as repeatedly construed, changes which may affect the
civil status from legitimate to illegitimate, as well as sex, are substantial and controversial
alterations which can only be allowed after appropriate adversary proceedings depending upon
the nature of the issues involved.

If the entries in the civil register could be corrected or changed through mere summary
proceedings and not through appropriate action wherein all parties who may be affected by the
entries are notified or represented, the door to fraud or other mischief would be set open, the
consequence of which might be detrimental and far reaching. For these reasons, the law has
placed the necessary safeguards to forestall such an eventuality so that even on matters which
call for a correction of clerical mistakes, the intervention of the courts was found necessary.

On appeal by the Republic does not only involve the correction of petitioner Labayo's name and
surname registered as "Beatriz Labayo/Beatriz Labayo in the birth certificates of her children.
The petition also seeks the change of her status from "married" to "not married" at the time of
her daughter's birth, thereby changing the status of her child Victoria Miclat from "legitimate" to
"illegitimate." The change of petitioner's name from Beatriz Labayo/Beatriz Labayo to
Emperatriz Labayo is a mere innocuous alteration wherein a summary proceeding is
appropriate. The Republic, however, is appealing the part of the questioned Order which
directed as well the change of the petitioner's status from "married" to "not married" and Victoria
Miclat's filiation from "legitimate" to "illegitimate." The right of the child Victoria to inherit from her
parents would be substantially impaired if her status would be changed from "legitimate" to
"illegitimate." Moreover, she would be exposed to humiliation and embarassment resulting from
the stigma of an illegitimate filiation that she will bear thereafter.

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Order appealed from is hereby MODIFIED by


nullifying the portion which directs the change of petitioner's civil status as well as the filiation of
the child Victoria Miclat. Let a copy of this decision be served upon the Local Civil Registrar of
San Fernando, Pampanga for proper implementation. No costs. This decision is immediately
executory. SO ORDERED.

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