15,000 residents lack birth certificates

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – A team from the Office of the Civil Registrar is continuously roving various barangays here to strengthen the Birth Registration Assistance Project (BRAP) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to enable individuals to acquire birth certificates for free.

Atty. Hermilo Pa-oyon, city civil registrar, said that more than 15,000 residents here have no birth certificates out of more than 19,000 individuals who submitted their documents for verification.

Pa-oyon said that some individuals were not born here but were here at the time of the survey.

He said they are focusing on mobile birth registration to ensure that all Bacolodnons will have copies of their birth certificates – both in local and security paper.

Based on their record, more than 3,000 of the 19,000 individuals already have birth certificates, upon verification.

“Importante na (birth certificate) because it is the mother of all personal documents. Dira ga emanate ang record for identification cards (IDs), enrollment in school, travel, marriage, and government transactions, among others,” Pa-oyon said.

Currently, at least 1,500 individuals have registered through their mobile birth registration, he said.

For those interested, they could inquire at their office at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) for the requirements. He said that their staff will be assisting them with the process.

He said that birth certificates processed through BRAP are expected to be released within three months, as these are being prioritized.