The Philippine Bill of 1902 and Jus Soli

After the turn-over of sovereignty from the Kingdom of Spain to the United States over the former’s colonies, the United States began paving the way for the Philippines in particular towards self-governance. The Philippine Bill was enacted by the Congress of the United States on July 1, 1902. The act was originally thought out to be a temporary one. It was meant to prepare the Filipinos for independence and self-governance for a period of at most eight years. However, it became the guide for the administration of civil government of the Philippines for fourteen years. It has little character of a constitutional act. Those provisions which one would expect to find in a constitution, such as establishing the framework for government, limiting governmental powers, and providing for the political organization of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, were lacking[1].

Section 4 of the Philippine Bill defines who the citizens of the Philippines were. It stated:

That all inhabitants of the Philippine Islands continuing to reside therein who were Spanish subjects on the eleventh day of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, and then resided in said Islands, and their children born subsequent thereto, shall be deemed and held to be citizens of the Philippine Islands and as such entitled to the protection of the United States, except as such as shall have elected to preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain in accordance with the provisions of the treaty of peace between the united States and Spain signed at Paris December tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight: Provided, That the Philippine legislature is hereby authorized to provide by law for the acquisition Philippine citizenship by those natives of the Philippine Islands who do not come within the foregoing provisions, the natives of other insular possessions of the United States, and such other persons residing in the Philippine Island who could become citizens of the United States if residing therein[2].

In this Bill, all those that were considered citizens of the Philippines under the Treaty of Paris were deemed to be citizen. Also, all those born after 11 April 1899 to parents who were Spanish subjects on that date and who continued to reside in the Philippines were ipso facto citizens of the Philippine Islands unless they declare their allegiance to the Spanish Crown. It was in this period (1902-1935) that the concept of Jus Soli was actually practiced in our archipelago[3].

[1] GEORGE A. MALCOLM, THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 222 (1920)

[2] PHILIPPINE BILL OF 1902 § 4 (1902) amended by ACT OF MARCH 23, 1912

[3] Roa v. Collector of Customs, 23 Phil. 315 (1912)