G.R. No. 250199 - REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. OLIVER M. BOQUIREN AND ROSELYN M. BOQUIREN, DULY REPRESENTED BY HER MOTHER ROSALINDA B. MACARAEG.

Ruling

WHEREFORE, as prayed for, the Local Civil Registrar of Malasiqui, Pangasinan is directed to cancel the annotation relative to the Affidavit of Legitimation made on the birth certificates of Oliver Macaraeg and Roselyn Macaraeg and to eventually register and annotate on the subject birth records the Affidavit of Acknowledgment of the Father and Affidavit to use the Surname of the Father both executed by Oscar Boquiren in favor of the herein [respondents]. [18] The RTC ratiocinated that respondents could not be legitimated because, at the time they were born, Oscar had a subsisting marriage with another woman. Hence, it ruled that the cancellation of the affidavits of legitimation was warranted to allow the application of Republic Act No. 9255 [19] in respondents' favor. [20] Petitioner Republic of the Philippines, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), sought reconsideration [21] of the Decision. The motion was denied in the RTC's Order [22] dated January 25, 2017. Undeterred, petitioner elevated the matter to the CA. [23] The Ruling of the CA On March 29, 2019, the CA rendered the assailed Decision [24] denying the appeal and affirming the RTC's Decision. Petitioner's Motion for Reconsideration [25] of the decision was likewise denied by the CA in its Resolution [26] dated October 8, 2019. Citing Republic of the Philippines v. Valencia , [27] the CA held that even substantial errors in a civil registry may be corrected and the true facts established under Rule 108 [28] of the Revised Rules of Court provided the parties aggrieved by the error avail themselves of the appropriate adversary proceeding. [29] The CA noted that the corrections sought by respondents appurtenant to the legitimacy of their filiation and the use of their father's surname indubitably involve not just clerical errors but entail substantial amendments. [30] The CA thus ruled that the RTC correctly granted respondents' petition for the correction of entries in their COLBs after observing the appropriate adversarial proceeding, viz .: The records show that, in accordance with Section 3 of Rule 108, the petition impleaded the Local Civil Registrar of Malasiqui, Pangasinan and [respondents'] father Oscar Boquiren. Also, pursuant to Section 4 of the Rule, the court a quo issued an Order dated June 15, 2016 setting the petition for initial hearing and directing all persons having any opposition thereto to appear and show cause why the petition should not be granted. Copies of the Order were sent to the government agencies concerned such as the Office of the Solicitor General, Office of the Provincial Prosecutor and the Office of the Local Civil Registrar of Malasiqui, Pangasinan. The Order was likewise published in the June 19-25, 2016, June 26 to July 2, 2016, and July 3-9, 2016 issues of the Pangasinan Sunday Report, a newspaper of general circulation in Pangasinan. Trial was conducted on September 27, 2016 during which the public prosecutor, acting in behalf of the Of