ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS Bayong, Cadulawan Minglanilla, Cebu (032)3186708 FAX (214) 969-1751 October 14, 2011 Mrs.

Evelyn L. Gimenez 16 St, Osmena St. Labangon, Cebu City, 6000 Dear Mrs. Gimenez: You raised the question whether you can correct your given name as it appeared in your Certificate of Live Birth - from Evalyn L. Gimenez to Evelyn L. Gimenez. I based my opinion from the facts gathered from you and your documents which are as follows: You were born on October 18, 1990 at Cebu City. Your parents were Pablo D. Gimenez and Carla M. Lopez. The fact of your birth was reported to the Office of the City Civil Registrar of Cebu City on November 8, 1990. It was recorded on page 68, book no. 9, in the Registry of Births of said civil registry. In the certification of birth dated May 9, 2009 issued by the same registry, your given name appears as Evalyn and not Evelyn. On October 29, 1990, you were baptized according to the rites and ceremonies of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. As reflected in your certificate of baptism issued by said church, you were baptized by the name Evelyn L. Gimenez. In your elementary diploma issued by the Paaralang Sentral ng Labangon, Cebu City; your high school diploma issued by the University of Southwestern University, Cebu City; and college diploma issued by the Silliman University, Dumaguete City, where you earned the degree of Bachelor of Secondary Education, uniformly show your name as Evelyn L. Gimenez . Presently, you are working in Southwestern University, Cebu City. Your certificate of membership issued by the Government Service Insurance System also bears your complete name as Evelyn L. Gimenez . When you secured an authenticated copy of your certificate of live birth from the National Statistics Office, you discovered that your given name as registered is Evalyn and not Evelyn. The facts and the documentary evidences you presented here are clear and sufficient. In my opinion, you can ask for judicial proceedings for the correction of your given name in the civil registry from Evalyn to Evelyn. First and foremost, you had used "Evelyn" as your given name since childhood until you discovered the discrepancy in your Certificate of Live Birth.

Section 2 of Rule 108 reads: 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) births; (b) marriages; (c) deaths; (d) legal separations; (e) judgments of annulments of marriage; (f) judgments declaring marriages void from the beginning; (g) legitimations; (h) adoptions; (i) acknowledgments of natural children; (j) naturalization; (k) election, loss or recovery of citizenship; (l) civil interdiction; (m) judicial determination of filiation; (n) voluntary emancipation of a minor; and (o) changes of name. The Supreme Court explained in the case of of Republic v. Valencia, saying that: "If the purpose of the petition is merely to correct the clerical errors which are visible to the eye or obvious to the understanding, the court may, under a summary procedure, issue an order for the correction of a mistake. However, as repeatedly construed, changes which may affect the civil status from legitimate to illegitimate, as well as sex, are substantial and controversial alterations which can only be allowed after appropriate adversary proceedings depending upon the nature of the issues involved. Changes which affect the civil status or citizenship of a party are substantial in character and should be threshed out in a proper action depending upon the nature of the issues in controversy, and wherein all the parties who may be affected by the entries are notified or represented and evidence is submitted to prove the allegations of the complaint, and proof to the contrary admitted x x x." Now, your case correctly falls under Rule 108 as it simply sought a correction of a misspelled given name. To correct simply means "to make or set a right; to remove the faults or error from." To change means "to replace something with something else of the same kind or with something that serves as a substitute." Indeed, there are also decided cases involving mistakes similar to your case which recognize the same a harmless error. In Yu v. Republic, it was held that "to change Sincio to Sencio which merely involves the substitution of the first vowel i in the first name into the vowel e amounts merely to the righting of a clerical error. In Republic v. Court of Appeals, Jaime B. Caranto and Zenaida P. Caranto, the correction involved the substitution of the letters "ch" for the letter "d," so that what appears as "Midael" as given name would read "Michael." In the latter case, this Court, with the agreement of the Solicitor General, ruled that the error was plainly clerical, such that, "changing the name of the child from Midael C. Mazon to Michael C. Mazon cannot possibly cause any confusion, because both names can be read and pronounced with the same rhyme and tone. In your case, the use of the letter "a" for the letter "e," so that what appears as "Evalyn" would read as "Evelyn" is patently a rectification of a name that is clearly misspelled. The similarity between "Evalyn" and "Evelyn" may well be the object of a mix- up that blemished your Certificate of Live Birth until your adulthood. In conclusion, my opinion is based on the law and the jurisprudence applicable to your situation. I am confident that the court will go in favour of your request.

Very truly yours, Ira Krizia V. Alalim