[ Manila Bulletin Online ] August 20, 2008
More than 51,000 Filipino nationals have reacquired their Philippine citizenship under the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act that Congress passed five years ago, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said yesterday.
BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said that 51,280 applications for dual citizenship have been approved with the implementation of Republic Act 9225, also known as the dual citizenship law.
Congress passed the act in 2003 but the BI started implementing it in April, 2004 after President Arroyo designated the bureau as the lead implementing agency of the dual citizenship law.
Libanan said that under RA 9225 former natural-born Filipinos who were naturalized as citizens of other countries are deemed not to have lost their Philippine citizenship.
The former Eastern Samar congressman, one of the principal authors of the measure, urged other former Filipino citizens who have settled abroad to avail themselves of the program so they could again enjoy the rights and privileges of a citizen.
Among these rights, he said, are the right to hold a Philippine passport, the right to vote, and the right to own real properties here.
"They can also visit and stay in the Philippines anytime and for as long as they wish," Libanan said.
Statistics from the newly-created BI special task force on dual citizenship showed that of the 51,280 approved applications, 17,280 were processed at the bureau’s main office in Intramuros while 34,000 were filed with Philippine consulates abroad.
Filipino-Americans topped the list of approved applicants, followed by Filipino-Canadians and Filipino-Australians.
Meanwhile, lawyer Arvin Santos, head of the special task force, assured qualified applicants that their papers will be expeditiously processed and approved.
Santos said applicants must submit required documents and pay a processing fee of R30,000.
