Jennifer got it all

Facts: Jennifer Cagandahan has organs of both male and female because she is suffering from a rare and permanent medical condition known as Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH). Jennifer is genetically female but has phenotypic features of a male individual. In 2003, she filed a Petition for Correction of Entries in her Birth Certificate to change her name from “Jennifer” to “Jeff” and her gender to male. The RTC granted her petition. However, the Office of the Solicitor General appealed to the SC arguing that the petition is fatally defective because it did not implead the local civil registrar, an indispensable party under Rules 103 and 108 of the Rules of Court. Should the court allow the change of name?

ANSWER: Yes. The Court ruled that a change of name is not a matter of right but of judicial discretion, to be exercised in the light of the reasons and the consequences that will follow. In the instant case, “if we determine respondent to be a female, then there is no basis for a change in the birth certificate entry for gender. But if we determine, based on medical testimony and scientific development showing the respondent to be other than female, then a change in the subject’s birth certificate entry is in order.” The Court, in deciding the case, considered “the compassionate calls for recognition of the various degrees of intersex as variations which should not be subject to outright denial.” It noted that Cagandahan “thinks of himself as a male and considering that his body produces high levels of male hormones (androgen), there is preponderant biological support for considering him as being male.” (visit fellester.blogspot.com) It stressed that she has let nature take its course in her development to reveal more fully his male characteristics. The SC agrees that there is substantial compliance with Rule 108 when respondent furnished a copy of the petition to the local civil registrar. Rule 1 of the Rules of Court states that courts shall construe the Rules liberally to promote their objectives of securing to the parties a just, speedy and inexpensive disposition of the matters brought before it. (GR No. 166676, Republic v. Cagandahan, September 12, 2008)