RULE 108 CANCELLATION OR CORRECTION OF ENTRIES IN THE CIVIL REGISTRY

I. Who may file petition

Sec. 1. Who may file petition. - Any person interested in any act, event, order or decree concerning the civil status of persons which has been recorded in the civil register, may file a verified petition for the cancellation or correction of any entry relating thereto, with the Court of First Instance of the province where the corresponding civil registry is located.

The provisions of Rule 108 were partly modified by RA 9048, which allows corrections in Civil Register without need of judicial order.
RA 9048 provides that only clerical or typographical errors in Civil Register may now be corrected through the municipal/city civil register, therefore no need to secure judicial order.

The nature of the proceedings under Rule 108

The proceedings under Rule 108 are either summary or adversarial in nature. If the correction is based on clerical or typographical errors the proceeding is summary however it is adversarial if it affects a party's civil status, citizenship or nationality. If the correction sought to be made in the civil register is clerical, the procedure to be adopted is summary. If the rectification affects the civil status, citizenship or nationality of a party, it is deemed substantial and the procedure to be followed is adversarial. Republic v Bautista L-35316 (1987) It is undoubtedly true that if the subject matter of a petition is not for the correction of clerical errors of a harmless and innocuous nature, but one involving nationality or citizenship, which is indisputably substantial as well as controverted, affirmative relief cannot be granted in a proceeding summary in nature. However, it is also true that a right in law may be enforced and a wrong may be remedied as long as the appropriate remedy is used. This Court adheres to the principle that even substantial errors in a civil registry may be

corrected and the true facts established provided the parties aggrieved by the error avail themselves of the appropriate adversary proceeding. (Republic v. Valencia G.R. No. L-32181)

To correct/cancel wrong filiation allowed.

Where the petition seeks to correct an erroneous entry, which was fraudulently falsified, remedy under Rule 108 may be proper. When what is sought to correct is not the legitimacy of the children but rather to establish a fact that such child is not the children of the petitioner, resort to 108 is correct. (Lee v CA G.R. No. 118387)

II. Coverage

of Rule 108

Sec. 2. Entries subject to cancellation or correction. Upon good and valid grounds, the following entries in the civil register may be cancelled or corrected: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) (m) (n) (o) births; marriages; deaths; legal separations; judgments of annulments of marriage; judgments declaring marriages void from the beginning; legitimations; adoptions; acknowledgments of natural children; naturalization election, loss or recovery of citizenship civil interdiction; judicial determination of filiation; voluntary emancipation of a minor; and changes of name.

III. Who can be parties to the proceedings

Sec. 3. Parties. - When cancellation or correction of an entry in the civil register is sought, the civil registrar and all persons who have or claim any interest which would be affected thereby shall be made parties to the proceeding.

IV. What happens after the petition is filed

Sec. 4. Notice and publication. - Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall, by an order, fix the time and place for the hearing of the same, and cause reasonable notice thereof to be given to the persons named in the petition. The court shall also cause the order to be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the province.

Publication brings in the whole world as a party in the case

The purpose precisely of Section 4, Rule 108 is to bind the whole world to the subsequent judgment on the petition. The sweep of the decision would cover even parties who should have been impleaded under Section 3, Rule 108, but were inadvertently left out. A petition for correction is an action in rem, an action against a thing and not against a person. The decision on the petition binds not only the parties thereto but the whole world. An in rem proceeding is validated essentially through publication. Publication is notice to the whole world that the proceeding has for its object to bar indefinitely all who might be minded to make an objection of any sort against the right sought to be established. It is the publication of such notice that brings in the whole world as a party in the case and vests the court with jurisdiction to hear and decide it. (Barco v CA G.R. No. 120587)

However, publication is not enough. Summons must still be served, not for the purpose of vesting the courts with jurisdiction but to comply with the requirements of fair play and due process. (Ceruila v. Delantar GR 140305) V. How to oppose the petition under Rule 108
Sec. 5. Opposition. - The civil registrar and any person having or claiming any interest under the entry whose cancellation or correction is sought may, within fifteen (15) days from notice of the petition, or from the last date of publication of such notice, file his opposition thereto.

VI. Proceedings under Rule 108 may be subject to injunction.

Sec. 6. Expediting proceedings. - The court in which the proceeding is brought may make orders expediting the proceedings, and may also grant preliminary injunction for the preservation of the rights of the parties pending such proceedings.

VII. What happens after the hearing?

Sec. 7. Order. - After hearing, the court may either dismiss the petition or issue an order granting the cancellation or correction prayed for. In either case, a certified copy of the judgment shall be served upon the civil registrar concerned who shall annotate the same in his record.

May the trial court dismiss the petition motu prioprio without allowing the petitioner to present evidence to support the same? NO. The Court further laid down the procedural requirements to make the proceedings under Rule 108 adversary, thus: "The pertinent sections of Rule 108 provide: SEC. 3. Parties.When cancellation or correction of an entry in the civil register is sought, the civil registrar and all persons who have or claim any interest which would be affected thereby shall be made parties to the proceeding.1wphi1.nt SEC. 4. Notice and publication.Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall, by an order, fix the time and place for the hearing of the same, and cause reasonable notice thereof to be given to the persons named in the petition. The court shall also cause the order to be published once in a week for three 93) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the province. SEC. 5. Opposition.The civil registrar and any person having or claiming any interest under the entry whose cancellation or correction is sought may, within fifteen (15) days from notice, file his opposition thereto. An appropriate adversary suit or proceeding is one where the trial court has conducted proceedings where all relevant facts have been fully and properly developed, where opposing counsel have been given opportunity to demolish the opposite party's case, and where the

evidence has been thoroughly weighed and considered. (Eleosida v. LCR Quezon City GR130277) Being an adversary proceeding, it was wrong for the trial court to motu prioprio dismiss without the presenting evidence of one party.