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By Katrice R. Jalbuena, Reporter
Despite living in Japan all her life,10-year-old
Masami Tapiru was not recognized as a Japanese citizen until
recently.
Masami, born to a Filipino mother and a Japanese
father out of wedlock or a Japino, was denied Japanese citizenship
due to a provision in the Japanese Nationality Law that stated
children with Japanese parentage, but born out of wedlock, would be
recognized only as citizens of their mother’s home country.
Without her Japanese citizenship, Masami’s
dream of becoming a police officer could not come true.
With a landmark ruling by the Japanese Supreme
Court on June 4, however, Masami and nine others like her have been
granted the right to a Japanese nationality.
The Japanese Supreme Court ruled as
unconstitutional a provision in the Japanese Nationality Law that
states that such children can only become citizens of the mother’s
home country.
The children petitioners, aged from 8 to 14,
were all born out of wedlock and recognized by their Japanese
fathers only after they were born.
Under existing Japanese laws, a Japanese father
has to step forward before his child’s birth in order for the
child to be deemed a Japanese citizen.
Filipino mothers and their children, aided by
Japanese lawyers led by Atty. Hironori Kondo, went through a long,
protracted legal battle that saw their fortunes swing from end to
end.
After filing suit in 2003, the Tokyo District
Court ruled in their favor in a 2005 decision, acknowledging that
the clause found in the Nationality Law “obstructs the
constitutional right to equality” that put the plaintiffs at “an
immense disadvantage.”
However, the Tokyo High Court overturned the
District Court’s ruling on grounds that the Nationality Law is
justified and does not interfere with the constitutional right to
equality.
The High Court stated that the decision to grant
nationality is “an inherent right of the State,” and that it did
not have the authority to confer nationality to the children.
In overturning the High Court’s decision, the
Supreme Court ruled that the provision in the law resulted in
“discrimination without any rational reason” and thus violated
Article 14 of the Japanese Constitution, which stipulates equality
under the law.
In finding unlawful the clause requiring that
the parents be married, the ruling stated, “The disadvantages
caused to the children by this biased treatment cannot be
disregarded.”
“I wanted to help her dream come true,” said
Rosanna Tapiru, 43, Masami’s mother. “We should confront the
fact that we are in a new era and society is becoming
multicultural.”
Before the ruling, Masami was considered not
Japanese because her father only recognized her as his child after
her birth. Masami sister’ on the other hand, Naomi Sato, 6, has
Japanese nationality because their father recognized her as his
child while she was still in the womb.
“Such children face an ‘identity
crisis’,” said Rieko Ito, general secretary of the Citizens’
Network for Japanese-Filipino. “These children can receive welfare
benefits as long as they have residential status, but will not have
the right to vote as adults.
“Without suffrage, we are afraid they will
feel alienated and face discrimination in job-hunting activities,”
explained Ito.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer and officials of the
Ministry of Justice and the Diet (Parliament) are expected to hold a
meeting and to begin talks on revising the Nationality Law to grant
full citizenship to children with similar backgrounds.
Japanese-Filipino children are estimated to
number in tens of thousands in Japan and in the Philippines.
Philippine Ambassador to Japan Domingo L. Siazon
Jr. welcomed the landmark Japan SC ruling as a positive step towards
improving the plight of thousands of Filipino-Japanese children and
hoped that the registration process can be done soon and quickly.
“I also hope that the Filipino mothers of
these children may also be allowed to come to Japan to be with their
children in their formative years and assist in their education,”
he said.
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