List of naturalized Filipino citizens

The following is a list of notable Filipinos who have acquired Philippine citizenship through naturalization. In contrast, natural-born Filipinos, are individuals who have one or both parents who were Philippine citizens at the time of the birth of that individual.^[1][2]

List

The following is a list of people who acquired Filipino citizenship through naturalization.

Name	Born	Origin nation	Naturalized	Notes
Andray Blatche	1986	United States	2014 (Republic Act No. 10636)	American-born player who played for the Philippines men's national basketball team.
Chip Engelland	1961	United States	–	American-born coach who was a member of the Philippine national basketball team under the sponsorship of Northern Cement Corporation that captured the 1985 Jones Cup Championship.
Francis Burton Harrison	1873	United States	1936 (Commonwealth Act No. 79)[3]	Former Governor-General of the Philippines and U.S. House of Representatives member.
Jessie Lichauco	1912	Cuba  United States	2013 (Republic Act No. 10356)	Cuban-born American philanthropist.
Marcus Douthit	1980	United States	2011 (Republic Act No. 10148)	American-born player who played for the Philippines men's national basketball team.[4]
Hans Smit	1958	Indonesia	2016 (Republic Act No. 10914)	Football coach who was born in Indonesia but grew up in the Philippines.[5]
Bruce McTavish	1939/1940	New Zealand	2018 (Republic Act No. 11161)	New Zealand-born boxing referee.
Ronnie Nathanielsz	1935	Sri Lanka	1973 (Presidential Decree No. 192)	Sri Lankan-born sports journalist, commentator and analyst[6]
George J. Willmann	1897	United States	1975 (Presidential Decree No. 740)	American Jesuit priest who had resided in the Philippines since 1936.[7]
Basel Manadil	1993	Syria	2019	Syrian vlogger who runs the YouTube channel The Hungry Syrian Wanderer which documents his experiences in the Philippines.[8]
Angelo Kouame	1997	Senegal	2021 (Republic Act No. 11543)	Senegal-born player who played for the Ateneo Blue Eagles basketball team and plays for the Philippines men's national basketball team.[9][10]
Akiko Thomson	1985	United States	1985 (Presidential Decree No. 1983)	American-born swimmer who grew up in the Philippines and took part in the Summer Olympics.[11]
Bienvenido Marañón	1986	Spain	2021 (Republic Act No. 11570)	Spanish-born footballer.[12][13]
Peter Leslie Wallace	1939	Australia	2015 (Republic Act No. 10685)	Australian born Businessman.[14][15]
Justin Brownlee	1988	United States	2023 (Republic Act No. 11937)	American-born player who played for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association.
Kyle Jennermann (Kulas)	1987/1988	Canada	2023 (Republic Act No. 11955)	Canadian-born vlogger who often covers Filipino travel and culture content.
Tomas Morato	1887	Spain	1899 (Treaty of Paris)	Spanish-born businessman and politician

See also

• Philippine nationality law

References

1. "Who are natural-born Filipinos?". Embassy of the Philippines in Norway. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
2. "The Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines". 1987. Article IV, Section 1 – via Official Gazette of the Philippine Government.
3. "An Act Declaring the Honorable Francis Burton Harrison, Former Governor-General of the Philippines, a Citizen of the Philippines, and Conferring Upon Him All the Rights, Duties, Privileges and Prerogatives of Filipino Citizenship". Commonwealth of the Philippines. October 26, 1936. Retrieved October 26, 2024.
4. "Douthit now a naturalized Filipino". ABS-CBNNews.com. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
5. "Indon football coach gets Filipino citizenship". Manila Bulletin. July 31, 2016. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
6. "Presidential Decree No. 192 : Granting Philippine Citizenship to Ronald Fredrick William Nathanielsz". The LawPhil Project. Arellano Law Foundation. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
7. Ocampo, Yen (July 31, 2014). "Cause for naturalized Filipino priest ongoing". CBCP News. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2014.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
8. Severo, Jan Milo (June 17, 2021). "Vlogger 'The Hungry Syrian Wanderer' is now a proud Filipino citizen". The Philippine Star. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
9. "Ange Kouame's naturalization now official". ABS-CBN News. May 18, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
10. AN ACT GRANTING PHILIPPINE CITIZENSHIP TO KAKOU ANGE FRANCK WILLIAMS KOUAME (PDF) (act RA-11543). Republic of the Philippines, Congress of the Philippines, Metro Manila, Eighteenth Congress, Second Regular Session. May 18, 2021.
11. Carandang, Justin Kenneth (June 7, 2023). "Why Akiko Thomson chose to compete for the Philippines". GMA News. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
12. Lopez, Virgil (July 7, 2021). "Duterte signs law granting Filipino citizenship to football player Bienvenido Marañon". GMA News. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
13. del Carmen, Lorenzo (July 7, 2021). "Bienvenido Maranon becomes a Filipino citizen". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
14. "Peter Wallace now a full-fledged Filipino". Philippine Daily Inquirer. October 4, 2015.
15. "Republic Act No. 10685". officialgazette.gov.ph. September 28, 2015.