Rommel wants to be a bride

Facts: Rommel Silverio filed a petition for the change of his gender and first name in his birth certificate to facilitate his marriage with his fiancé. A year before, Silverio has underwent sex re-assignment surgery in Bangkok, Thailand. In his petition, he wants to change his first name from “Rommel” to “Mely.” Should the court allow the change of name?

ANSWER: No. The SC said that considering that there is no law recognizing sex re-assignment, the determination of a person’s sex at the time of birth, if not attended by error, is immutable. It held that “while petitioner may have succeeded in altering his body and appearance through the intervention of modern surgery, no law authorizes the change of entry as to sex in the civil registry for that reason. There is no special law in the country governing sex reassignment and its effect. (visit fellester.blogspot.com) This is fatal to petitioner’s cause.” The Court said that the change in gender sought by petitioner “will have serious and wide-ranging legal and public policy consequences,” i.e., substantially reconfigure and greatly alter the laws on marriage and family relations and substantially affect the public policy in relation to women in laws such as the provisions of the Labor Code on employment of women, certain felonies under the Revised Penal Code, etc. (GR No. 174689, Silverio v. Republic, October 22, 2007)