51,000 Pinoys now dual citizens by law – immigration chief

MANILA, Philippines – More than 51,000 Filipinos – mostly naturalized American, Canadians, and Australians – have reacquired their citizenship since the Dual Citizenship Law was enacted in 2003, according to the Bureau of Immigration.

The agency has approved 51,280 applications made under Republic Act No. 2295, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said on Monday.

With approval of their dual citizenship, these "renewed" citizens now enjoy the rights and privileges of Filipinos such as having Philippine passport, owning land, and voting.

"They can also visit and stay in the Philippines anytime they want and for as long as they want," Libanan, a former representative for Eastern Samar and one of the principal authos of RA 9225, said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed the bureau in 2004 as the lead agency in the implementation of the law.

About a third of the applications, or 17,280, were filed at the bureau's main office in Manila, while the rest were filed in Philippine consulates abroad, according to figures from the BI Special Task Force.

Filipinos that have been naturalized as Americans topped the list of those approved applications, followed by naturalized Canadians and Australians.

The task force chief, lawyer Arvin Santos, assuraed qualified applicants that their documents would be quickly processed and approved after they pay P3,000 as processing fee.

The eight-manned BI Special Task Force on Dual Citizenship was formed late last month by the immigration commissioner in a bid to streamline the processing for applications of dual citizenship. - GMANews.TV

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