The Oath of Allegiance ( Tagalog: ''Panunumpa ng Katapatan'') is an

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to ...

administered to and recited by immigrants who wish to accede to the

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

of the

Republic of the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The current oath, based on the United States Oath of Allegiance, was first enshrined in Commonwealth Act No. 473, the Revised Naturalization Law of 1939, with the modern version enshrined in Republic Act No. 9225, the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003.

History and composition

Prior to the promulgation of the

Commonwealth of the Philippines The Commonwealth of the Philippines ( es, Commonwealth de Filipinas or ; tl, Komonwelt ng Pilipinas) was the administrative body that governed the Philippines from 1935 to 1946, aside from a period of exile in the Second World War from 1942 ...

, residents of the Philippines were considered

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

s of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and naturalization was governed by Act No. 2927, the Naturalization Law, passed by the

Philippine Legislature The Philippine Legislature was the legislature of the Philippines from 1907 to 1935, during the American colonial period, and predecessor of the current Congress of the Philippines. It was bicameral and the legislative branch of the Insular G ...

. However, with the passage of the

Tydings–McDuffie Act The Tydings–McDuffie Act, officially the Philippine Independence Act (), is an Act of Congress that established the process for the Philippines, then an American territory, to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period. ...

in 1934, national status for residents of the Philippines was revoked in preparation for the islands' independence, and the question of nationality was passed on to the then-newly formed Commonwealth government inaugurated in 1935. Pursuant to Article IV of the 1935 Constitution, the

National Assembly of the Philippines The National Assembly of the Philippines ( tl, Kapulungáng Pambansâ ng Pilipinas, es, Asamblea Nacional de Filipinas) refers to the legislature of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1941, and of the Second Philippine Republic ...

passed Commonwealth Act No. 473, the Revised Naturalization Law of 1939, which provided a mechanism for the acquisition of Filipino nationality by naturalization. Under Section 14 of the Law, prior to the issuance of a certificate of naturalization, the person petitioning to be granted Filipino citizenship had to recite the following oath

in open court In open court is a legal term in the United States defined by the appearance by a party or their attorney in a public court session such as during a public trial. Normally, the public may be present at trials, hearings and similar routine matte ...

With the independence of the Philippines on July 4, 1946, the oath was modified to remove references to the Commonwealth and the United States, although the language remained virtually the same as the original.

This changed in 2003, when the Philippines legalized

multiple citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on t ...

and it no longer became mandatory to renounce foreign citizenship to obtain Filipino citizenship. These modifications were subsequently codified in Section 3 of Republic Act No. 9225, which mandates that former Filipino citizens reacquiring Filipino citizenship take an oath of allegiance to the Republic. The oath in its current form is as follows:

Instead of the oath, a petitioner may choose to recite an affirmation of allegiance instead if religious or personal reasons so require.

References

{{reflist P Law of the Philippines

History and composition

See also

References