G.R. No. 132980 - REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. GLADYS C. LABRADOR. D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered granting the petition. Accordingly, the erroneous entry with respect to the name of [the] child appearing in the birth certificate of Sarah Zita Cañon Erasmo is hereby ordered corrected from SARAH ZITA CAÑON ERASMO to SARAH ZITA CAÑON and the erroneous entry in said birth certificate with respect to the name of [the] mother is likewise hereby ordered corrected from ROSEMARIE B. CAÑON to MARIA ROSARIO CAÑON. "The Local Civil Registrar of Cebu City is hereby ordered to make the foregoing corrections in the birth records of SARAH ZITA CAÑON ERASMO and to issue a birth certificate reflecting said corrections. "Furnish a copy of this Decision to the petitioner, her counsel, the Solicitor General, Asst. City Prosecutor Generosa C. Labra and the Local Civil Registrar of Cebu City." Disagreeing with the above disposition, the solicitor general brought this Petition directly to this Court on a pure question of law. [3] The Facts Respondent Gladys C. Labrador filed with the Regional Trial Court of Cebu City on September 26, 1997, a Petition for the correction of entries in the record of birth of Sarah Zita Erasmo, her niece. In her Petition, respondent alleged the following: "1. Petitioner is of legal age, married, a resident of 493-17, Archbishop Reyes Ave., Barrio Luz, Cebu City, where she can be served with the processes of this Honorable Court; "2. Respondent Local Civil Registrar of Cebu City is impleaded herein in his official capacity; he can be served with summons and other processes of this Honorable Court in his office at the City Health Department, Cebu City; "3. Petitioner is the sister of Maria Rosario Cañon who is presently residing in the United States of America; "4. Sometime in 1986, petitioner's sister, Maria Rosario Cañon, had a common law relationship with a certain Degoberto Erasmo, and during such cohabitation, petitioner's sister begot two (2) illegitimate children, one of which is SARAH ZITA B. ERASMO, who was born on April 27, 1988, as shown in her birth certificate, a copy of which is hereto attached as ANNEX "A"; "5. During the registration of the birth of SARAH ZITA, petitioner's sister told the respondent Local Civil Registrar that she was not legally married to the father of SARAH ZITA; "6. However, herein respondent erroneously entered the name of Sarah Zita in her birth record as SARAH ZITA C. ERASMO, instead of SARAH ZITA CAÑON. Not only that, the name of petitioner's sister, being the mother, was also erroneously written by the herein respondent as Rosemarie Cañon, instead of Maria Rosario Cañon, "7. In order to straighten the record of birth of SARAH ZITA ERASMO and pursuant to Article 176 of the Family Code which provides: Art. 176. Illegitimate children shall use the surname and shall be under the parental authority of the mother xxx [t]here is a need to correct the entry in the record of birth of SARAH ZITA ERASMO to SARAH ZITA CAÑON and to correct the name of her mother as appear