By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho has formally declared 19-year-old Clarence Anthony Ong Lee the natural and biological son of the late Antonio Santos Salas, granting him full Northern Marianas Descent status and associated rights, including land ownership and potential retirement survivorship benefits.
The six-page ruling, issued in April, followed a Feb. 19 evidentiary hearing on the administratrix’s petition for final distribution, declaration of paternity, and name change. The court relied on sworn testimony from Antonio’s widow, Rosalina Manabat Ong Salas, and six exhibits admitted into evidence.
Court affirms paternity and NMD status
In the order, Judge Camacho found that Rosalina’s testimony established she had “no intimate relations with anyone other than Antonio more than eleven (11) months prior to the birth of Clarence,” a statement the court deemed credible.
The ruling also emphasized evidence that Antonio “receive[d] the child into his home and openly held the child as his own,” satisfying the statutory presumption of paternity under 8 CMC § 1704(a)(4).
Photos of Antonio and his family at Clarence’s baptism, along with a 2010 Deed of Gift, further supported the finding. In that deed, Antonio conveyed Lot 031 D 36 to Clarence “for and in consideration of natural love and affection I have unto my son.”
As Antonio was a Chamorro of Northern Marianas Descent, the court ruled that Clarence also qualifies as NMD and may legally hold permanent interests in CNMI land under Article XII of the Constitution.
Name change and inheritance rights granted
Judge Camacho ordered the Division of Public Health’s Vital Statistics Office to amend Clarence’s birth certificate to reflect his new legal name — Clarence Anthony Ong Salas — and to list Antonio as his natural father.
The ruling also confirms Clarence’s eligibility to claim any benefits arising from his status as Antonio’s natural-born child, “including — but not limited to —survivorship benefits from the CNMI Retirement Fund.”
The court additionally ratified the 2010 Deed of Gift, declaring the land transfer valid now that Clarence’s NMD status has been legally established.
Background
Clarence was born in 2007, before Rosalina and Antonio married in 2009. At the time, Rosalina was still legally married to another man in the Philippines, and Clarence’s birth certificate listed no father.
Antonio died in 2017, leaving behind two children: Clarence and Jhon Joseph Ong Salas, born in 2013.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
