AN INSIGHTFUL LOOK AT CIVIL REGISTRATION AND RA 10172

WHEN I was reading James C. Dobson's statement about marriage which says" Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without”, I was inspired to look at the latest statistics on marriage taking place in Northern Mindanao. What I saw was the total number of marriages occurring in 2010 which registered a total of 24,484 which is 1,571 higher than that of 2009. Then I shifted to statistics on live births - the latest of which is 2009 which posted a total of 80,747 live births consisting of 41,990 females and 38,756 males with a sex ratio of 108. Birth, death and marriage statistics are the milestones of human lives, and the most common way of collecting information is through civil registration-an administrative system employed by governments to record the occurrence of such events in the lives of their population (Hufana,2010). Civil Registration is defined as the continuous permanent, compulsory and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events and other civil status pertaining to the population as provided by decree, law or regulation in accordance with the legal requirement of each country (United Nations 2001). The civil registration system addresses various needs. For individuals, vital records provide legal proof of identity, civil status, age and relationship. On the other hand, vital statistics derived from the aggregation of individual records provide the tools for the demographic analyses needed for economic and social planning and development. It also provides insights into various health information such as leading causes of death as well as death sex ratio. For instance, since 2000, there have been more reported deaths of males than of females. In 2008, the proportion of male deaths was higher than female deaths in all age groups except in age group 80 and over. Disparity between sexes was prominent from infancy until after retirement ages. The infant death sex ratio in 2008 was 143.7 , which indicates higher risk of dying among male infants than female infants ( NSO Philippine Yearbook,2010). If we were to take a insightful look at how civil registration in the Philippines has gone through in addressing the growing needs of the people, we would see significant developments such as RA 9048, otherwise known as AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE CITY OR MUNICIPAL CIVIL REGISTRAR OR THE CONSUL GENERAL TO CORRECT A CLERICAL OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR IN AN ENTRY AND/OR CHANGE OF FIRST NAME OR NICKNAME IN THE CIVIL REGISTER WITHOUT NEED OF A JUDICIAL ORDER, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE ARTICLES 376 AND 412 OF THE CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES. Such was the act passed in 2001. The passage of time witnessed growing needs among petitioners with regard some errors in their birth and marriage certificates .Thus, on August 19,2012 , President Benigno S.C. Aquino III signed into law Republic Act No. 10172, an act further authorizing the city or municipal civil registrar or the consul general to correct clerical or typographical errors in the day and month in the date of birth or sex of a person appearing in the civil register without need of a judicial order, amending R.A. NO. 9048. Clerical or typographical error refers to a mistake committed in the performance of clerical work in writing, copying, transcribing, or typing an entry in the civil register, such as misspelled name or misspelled place of birth, mistake in the entry in the date of birth or the sex of the person, which is visible to the eyes or obvious to the understanding, and can be corrected or changed only by reference to other existing record or records. Provided, however, that no correction must involve change of nationality, age , or status of the petitioner. This law will ease corrections and will spare the petitioner from undergoing the tedious court proceedings. Requesting parties are required to support petition with the following documents: A certified true machine copy of the certificate or of the page of the registry book containing the entry or entries sought to be corrected or changes; at least two public or private documents showing the correct entry or entries upon which the correction or change shall be based: other documents which the petitioner or the city or municipal civil registrar or the consul general may consider relevant and necessary for the approval of the petition. As provided ,"clerical or typographical error refers to a mistake committed in the performance of clerical work in writing, copying, transcribing or typing an entry in the civil register that is harmless and innocuous, such as misspelled name or misspelled place of birth or the like, which is visible to the eyes or obvious to the understanding, and can be corrected or changed only by reference to other existing record or records:” However, it strictly provides that no correction must involve the change of nationality, age, status or sex of the petitioner. Its effectivity shall take place fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two newspapers of general circulation.

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