What is Civil Registration?
Civil Registration is a continuous,
permanent, and compulsory recording of vital events occurring in the life of an
individual such as birth, marriage, and death, as well as all court decrees,
and legal instruments affecting his civil status in appropriate registers as
mandated by Act No. 3753, the Civil Registry Law.
What are the uses of civil registry
documents?
Basically, there
are two uses:
1. Legally,
these records establish the occurrence of birth, death, or marriage, and therefore
provide prima facie evidence of facts surrounding these events.
Birth records present many facts about an individual such as the
person’s name, date and place of birth, parents, religion, and citizenship,
among others. The marriage certificate establishes a change in civil status and
the legal spouse, while the death certificate records the passing away of an
individual. These records are important in legal and personal transactions,
applying for jobs, obtaining passports for travel, entrance to school, claiming
insurance benefits, and in others.
2. Statistically,
these records provide data on the number of births, deaths, marriages, fetal
deaths, adoptions, and the like, which in turn are essential in development
planning.
What must be registered?
Registrable vital events are:
·
Birth
·
Death
·
Fetal Death
·
Marriage
Who should report the event?
Birth
·
The
administrator of the hospital, clinic or similar institution where the birth
occurred;
·
The
physician, midwife, or any person who attended the delivery of the child; or
·
In
default of the hospital or clinic administrator or attendant-at-birth, either
or both the child’s parents may report the event.
Marriage
·
The solemnizing officer or the person
officiating the marriage (such as priest, judge, imam, and the likes); or
·
In default of the solemnizing
officer, either or both of the contracting parties in marriage may report the
event.
Death
·
The administrator (or his authorized
representative) of the hospital, clinic or similar institution where the person
died;
·
The person who last attended the
deceased (such as physician, nurse, midwife, faith healer, or other persons)
when the place of death is not in a hospital, clinic or similar institution.
·
The nearest relative of the deceased
person or any person who has knowledge of the facts of death, when there is no
attendant-at-death or the place of death is not in the hospital, clinic or
similar institution.
When should an event be registered?
Birth, death and fetal death should be
reported to the office of the Civil Registrar where the event transpired, not
later than thirty (30) days from occurrence.
Marriages exempted from the license
requirement should be reported to the Office of the Civil Registrar not later
than thirty (30) days from the date of marriage.
On the other hand, marriages that
require licenses should be reported to the Office of the Civil Registrar not
later fifteen (15) days after the date of marriage.
Source: NSO-NCR District Office