BIRTH REGISTRATION SYSTEM OF THE

PHILIPPINESA Situation Report

Lourdes J. HufanaDirector, Civil Registration Department

NSO

Background Vital Registration Legal and Institutional Framework

Current Situation Birth Registration Process CRIS DVSS Level of birth registration Birth Statistics Implication

Developments and Progress Coordinating Mechanisms Legal/Policy Reform Capability Building/Awareness Raising Systems/Integration of IT systems Services/Certificates

Challenges and Way Forward

Outline

Vital registration in the Philippines has gone through various significant developments from the time it was legally instituted as a system with the ratification of Act No. 3753 (Civil Registration Law) in 1930.

Background

As a state policy, the system mandates the basic and compulsory registration of all vital events and the accompanying changes in the civil status of every Filipino citizen.

Legal and Institutional Framework

In terms of the system’s structure, the Philippines presents a robust mechanism, with its legally defined operational and administrative setup, from the municipality, where the unit of vital registration is fixed to the central depository of vital documents at the National Statistics Office.

Under Republic Act No. 7160 (Local Government Code), civil registration is a function of the local government through the City/Municipal Civil Registrar but is under the technical supervision of the Civil Registrar General who is the Administrator of the National Statistics Office.

Birth Registration Process

Person Responsible City/Municipal Civil Registrar(Attendant/BCRS)

Reglementary Period 30 days C/MCR

+ 10 days NSO/PO + 45 days NSO/CO

Systems developed for the processing of civil registry documents:

Civil Registry Information System (CRIS) LCRODecentralized Vital Statistics System (DVSS) NSO

Current Situation

A Civil Registry Database Management System designed to operate under LAN environment.

CRIS was designed to further enhance the civil registrar’s capability to attend to the growing demand for civil registry documents

Features: CRIS

Data Entry maintenance of Vital Events (birth, marriage and death)

Monthly report submission Certificate/letter generation Record generation Record Quality check System Utilities

Modules: CRIS

Developed to strengthen Field Offices and be more responsive to the statistical needs of the Local Government Units

Decentralized encoding and processing civil registry documents at the NSO Provincial Offices

Features: DVSS

Data Entry and maintenance of Vital Events (Birth, Marriage, Death, Fetal Death, Court Decrees and Legal Instruments)

Data report generation down to municipality level (preliminary statistics)

Monthly report submission log Transfer of LCRO and DVSS files to DVSS2K Upload/transfer of Vital Events data to CF

(Central Facility); and VE (Vital Event) record quality check

Modules: DVSS

The system of birth registration is supposed to address the requirements of the entire population, regardless of◦ Ethnicity◦ Religion◦ Economic status and◦ Customary practices

However, in the Philippines, as gleaned from its political background and history, there are fragments of the society that have remained in their traditional culture.

The levels of birth registration among the marginalized sectors have been very low, as validated in the census and various local survey undertakings.

Birth Registration

Birth registration in 2000 was 89% (2000 Census) and it is estimated to reach 94% in 2007.

94% in NCR 69% in Central Mindanao 76% in Western Mindanao 23% in ARMM

Birth Statistics

The impact on unregistered births, especially among children and youth from these identified groups is critical to their ◦ Development;◦ Welfare and well-being;◦ In the course of realizing their potentials and

fulfilling their basic rights.

Implication

The Philippines has initiated projects that deal with the identification of birth registration barriers; customary practices on vital events occurring among the different cultural minority groups and the circumstances that affect the non-registration of births of children in need of special protection.

Developments and Progress

In partnership with Plan Philippines, the Unregistered Children Project and the Birth Registration Project were conducted to address legal and policy reforms that will strengthened the birth registration system, as well as dealing with the difficulties and barriers in birth registration.

Coordinating Mechanisms

At the LGU level,◦Ordinances were passed for the

elimination of registration fees;◦ Priority were set for local civil registration◦ Implementation of the Barangay Civil

Registration System (BCRS) – where birth registration is facilitated at the village levels, thus addressing economic and distance barriers.

With the institutionalization of BCRS, the community can now facilitate the registration right there in their respective communities without necessarily going to the municipal centers.

This is seen to be one effective solution in breaking the barriers of all birth registration, especially in hard to reach communities, far-flung and remote areas and in the marginalized sectors among Muslim Filipinos and Indigenous peoples.

At the national level, the project lobbied extensively for the enactment into law of the following:◦ RA 9048 (Clerical Error Law);◦ RA 9255 (Use of Father’s Surname for Illegitimate

Children) which address social barriers;◦ RA 9858 (Legitimation of Children Born Parents

Below Marrying Age)

Legal and Policy Reform

Other policy reforms have been instituted to address cultural barriers at the agency level through the issuance of administrative orders and memorandum circulars.◦ Outlining birth registration guidelines for CNSP

cases;◦ Procedures on birth registration for the Indigenous

peoples; and◦ Supplementing the process of birth registration

system among Muslim Filipinos.

In terms of systems, implementing rules and regulations and the accompanying manual of instructions for legal, administrative and statistical use are regularly updated.Operational guidelines on specific programs are also disseminated in the field.• Revised Civil Registry Forms (January 2007)• Accomplishment and Coding

Systems

In response to the new laws, policies, rules and regulations passed related to civil registration, the OCRG revised the civil registry forms;

To address emerging concerns To include more spaces for important items

like names. Date and place of event and the remarks/annotation portion in some civil registry forms;

Revised Civil Registry Forms

To include more information to ascertain the identity, lineage and condition of the person or the event being registered;

To ensure accuracy of information entered even if the entry is misaligned in the succeeding copies;

To consider archiving concerns.

Revised Civil Registry Forms

Statistical processing of the registered documents takes into account manual and machine processing using the Decentralized Vital Statistics System (DVSS). The system connects through the CRS-IT where it electronically archived the vital documents.

Integration of IT systems

There is a on-going efforts to localize awareness-raising publicity materials, appropriate to the existing culture of the target sectors. Thus, guidebooks, brochures, jingle and infomercial are now translated in two major dialects (Tagalog and Cebuano).

Services and CertificatesNSO Civil Registry System Project

NSO Civil Registry System Project/Documents

Converted/Digitized As of November 8, 2010 for vital events

registered, 1945 – 2010◦ Births 96.02 Million◦ Marriages 21.44 Million◦ Deaths 17.86 Million

NSO Outlets◦ All Regional Centers (14)◦ Selected provincial/city outlets (22)◦ Metro Manila outlets (6)

BREQS outlets (LGUs/TA/SM/Others)◦ Selected LCR Offices (334)◦ Travel Agencies (29)◦ SM Malls (42)◦ Others (4)

Services and Certificates

Crucial priorities for the policy advocacy measures now focus on the amendment of Act No. 3753. The proposed bill is pending at the Congress.

Way Forward

The BCRS is now in its implementation stage in cities and municipalities where the Birth Registration Project and Plan Philippines Program Units operate. When the proposed amendment of Act No. 3753 will be ratified, BCRS will now become compulsory in all local civil registration programs and therefore, will be institutionalized in all local government units

Birth registration needs to be sustained, revitalized and strengthened by service providers at the LGU levels (provision of budgetary allocations, priority LGU programs, computerization for CRIS, capability building program for C/MCR/Staff)

There is a need for provision of free services in the remotest areas to encourage poor communities and vulnerable groups (marginal sectors) to exercise their rights to registration at birth.

The importance of birth registration as a legal document is yet to be understood by our communities thus, the lack of enthusiasm to register children at birth. Requests for birth certificates are influenced by economic factors like securing a passport, visa or getting employed. On a daily basis we deal with request for the issuance of certificates in SECPA (Security Paper).

Implementation of revised civil registry forms that contained additional critical information for planning health programs and inputs to health researchers, estimating maternal and infant mortality, etc.

Integrity of civil registry documents and its timely submission from the LGUs.

On the generation of vital statistics

Policy reforms addressing the improvement of the civil registration systems among the select sectors have already been put in place. Necessary reforms have been instituted that highlighted administrative and legal structures in the implementation of Act No. 3753.

Concluding Note

These changes have been carried out in terms of policy development, public advocacy and system innovation, including registration procedures for unregistered children among the marginalized sectors of the population and the hard to reach communities, specifically with the indigenous cultural communities, Muslim Filipinos and those in need of special protection.

The challenge now is to measure its effectiveness and its impact on the level of birth registration.

THANK YOU!