Citizenship: Naturalization 

Naturalization –– Admission to citizenship is one of the highest privileges that our Republic can confer upon an alien; it is everyone’s duty, especially the courts, to ensure that this valuable privilege be not bestowed except upon a person fully qualified for it, and upon strict compliance with the law; in matters of privilege, no presumption can be indulged in favor of a claimant; neither is the absence of opposition an excuse for scrutinizing attentively the records of a petition for naturalization; courts must always be mindful that naturalization proceedings are imbued with the highest public interest; the courts are mandated to see to it that the letter and spirit of the law are satisfied beyond any doubt; naturalization laws should be rigidly enforced and strictly construed in favor of the government and against the applicant. (In the Matter of the Petition for Admission to Citizenship of Manish C. Mahtani vs. Rep. of the Phils., G.R. No. 211118, March 21, 2018)

––      The requirement of some known lucrative trade, profession, or lawful occupation means not only that the person having the employment gets enough for his ordinary necessities in life; neither does it simply mean that one is engaged in a trade, profession, or occupation which gives him and his family the luxuries in life or enables him and his family to have a way of living above an average person. (In the Matter of the Petition for Admission to Citizenship of Manish C. Mahtani vs. Rep. of the Phils., G.R. No. 211118, March 21, 2018)

Source: Supreme Court of the Philippines - Case Index