Short answer. Yes. If your petition is one that must go through the courts, Rule 103, Section 3 requires the order setting the hearing to be published once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation. Administrative corrections under RA 9048 and RA 10172 follow a different, registrar-level process.
What the law says
shall direct that a copy of the order be published before the hearing at least once a week for three successive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation published in the province
Rule 103, Section 3 — Order for hearing. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The date set for the hearing shall not be within thirty days prior to an election nor within four months after the last publication of the notice.
Rule 103, Section 3 — Order for hearing. Read the full provision →
What gets published, and for how long
Strictly, what the newspaper carries is not your petition but the court's order. If the petition is sufficient in form and substance, the court issues an order reciting its purpose and fixing the hearing, and shall direct that a copy of the order be published before the hearing at least once a week for three successive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation published in the province. The distinction matters little to privacy — the order recites what you are asking for — but it matters to compliance: three successive weekly insertions of the court's order, in a qualifying newspaper, before the hearing can proceed.
The built-in waiting period
Publication also drives the calendar. The same section provides: The date set for the hearing shall not be within thirty days prior to an election nor within four months after the last publication of the notice. Read that carefully — the hearing must fall at least four months after the last of the three publications, and clear of the thirty-day window before an election. A judicial change of name is therefore never quick: the rule itself builds months of waiting into the schedule, quite apart from the court's own docket. Factor that in before assuming a court petition will meet any deadline of yours.
First check whether you need Rule 103 at all
A court petition is no longer the only route to a corrected name. Republic Act No. 9048, as amended by Republic Act No. 10172, allows a change of first name or nickname, and correction of clerical or typographical errors in the civil register, through an administrative petition filed with the local civil registrar — no court case. The judicial petition under Rule 103, with its publication and waiting periods, remains the route for changes the administrative process does not cover, a change of surname being the standard example. Which lane you are in is the first question, because it decides everything about cost and timeline.
Why the law insists on publicity
A name is how creditors, the State and everyone else identify you, so the law refuses to let it change quietly. Publication tells the world that a change is being sought, and the order being published must recite the purpose of the petition and fix a date and place for the hearing — so anyone with reason to object knows what is proposed and where to raise it. For the petitioner the practical consequences are expense and exposure: the fact of the petition becomes public. If that sits badly, discuss with counsel whether your change qualifies for the administrative route instead.