Guimaras lawmaker hails passage of RA 11909

By John Noel E. Herrera

Guimaras lone district Rep. Ma. Lucille Nava hailed the passage of the law that sets the permanent validity of certificates of live birth, death and marriage

Republic Act No. 11909 or the “Permanent Validity of the Certificates of Live Birth, Death, and Marriage Act” was enacted into law Monday, August 1, 2022.

Through the law, the certificates of live birth, death, and marriage – that are issued, signed, certified, or authenticated by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), its predecessor the National Statistics Office (NSO), and the local civil registries – shall have permanent validity regardless of the date of issuance.

Those certificates shall be recognized and accepted in all government and private transactions or services requiring the submission of the same as proof of identity and legal status of a person.

The law was legislated to address the growing concern that some government agencies and private institutions requiring the submission of the aforementioned documents accept only those documents obtained in the past 6 months prior to submission, thus creating an impression of a 6-month validity.

Though the PSA has clarified that the certificates mentioned do not have an expiration, the constant changing of the color of the security paper leads to the rejection of the acceptance of long-issued documents.

This leaves many Filipinos with no choice but to request new copies of the certificates they need which are an additional financial burden to them.

Rep. Nava sponsored the law in the 18th Congress as chairperson of the House Committee on Population and Family Relations

“The passage of this law is a testament of the efforts of Congress to remain responsive to the needs of our countrymen. My aspiration in principally authoring this measure is to ease the burden imposed to the Filipino people by removing unnecessary demands for the most recent copies of PSA documents and essentially streamline our people’s transactions with the public and private sector,” Nava said.