change surname

The following are the application requirements: 1. Secure the following documents from the City/Municipal Civil Registrar’s Office (C/MCR) where the birth of the child was recorded: a. Affidavit of paternity/acknowledgement (certified photocopy/xerox copy) b. Joint affidavit of legitimation c. Certification of registration of legal instrument (Affidavit of Legitimation) d. Certified true copy of birth certificate with remarks/annotation based on the legitimation by subsequent marriage. “2. Verify the original birth certificate at the National Statistics Office (NSO). If negative result, secure it from C/MCR Office where the child was originally registered (certified photocopy). “3. Verify the marriage contract of parents at NSO. If negative result, secure it from C/MCR Office where the marriage was solemnized (certified true copy).”

Under the law, “[l]egitimated children shall enjoy the same rights as legitimate children” (Article 170, Family Code of the Philippines). One of these rights is “to bear the surname of the father and the mother.” (Article 174 (1), Id.) Legitimation is a remedy by means of which those who in fact were not born in wedlock and should, therefore, be considered illegitimate, are, by fiction, considered legitimate, it being supposed that they were born when their parents were already validly married (1 Manresa 550, as cited on p. 251, Handbook on Family Code of the Philippines, Alicia V. Sempio-Diy).