GENERAL SANTOS CITY (22 May 2015) – Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and City Mayor Ronnel Rivera have indicated their support to amend the “obsolete” provisions of Commonwealth Act No. 3753 or the Law on Registry of Civil Status.
Senator Marcos flew to Gensan Tuesday (May 19) to attend both the 13th National Biennial Convention on Civil Registration and 3rd National Capability Building Seminar of Barangay Secretaries and Partners in Civil Registration which simultaneously took place on May 18 – 21 at SM Trade Hall.
Mayor Rivera welcomed the senator at the General Santos City Airport. They went directly to SM Mall Gensan and were met by around 2,300 local civil registrars from all over the country—one of the biggest gatherings so far according to the Philippine Association of Civil Registrars (PACR).
Marcos pointed out that there is a need to amend Commonwealth Act No. 3753 as some parts of it are already obsolete and inapplicable to the present social scenario of the Filipino people.
“The law of civil registration has been there since 1930. We have seen a lot of presidential transition (since 1930) but our law (civil registrar law) has still no changes. We need to change it,” Marcos emphasized.
Luchi Flores, national president of the PACR, echoed the statement of Marcos saying that there is a need to update the law for the good of the public and as well as the civil registrars.
“I have already whispered to Senator Marcos regarding our concern about the civil registrar law,” Flores announced to fellow civil registrars.
For Mayor Rivera, the amendment of Commonwealth Act No. 3753 is a big step to further strengthen the reach of services given by civil registrars of each local government unit.
“Furthermore, the (update of) civil registry, in fact, creates greater impact on government policies and actions as it does not only provide basis for individual legal identities, but also allows government agencies to identify their most pressing issue and concern in the local governance,” Mayor Rivera emphasized.
“I have encountered countless instances where I have to direct my staff to assist fishermen who were repatriated (mostly from Indonesia). And truly the most important thing that they should possess with them is their physical manifestation of their legal identity through civil registration,” Mayor Rivera narrated.
“And from there comes the most crucial part of a civil registrar together with other partners in civil registration to be fully equipped with knowledge and skills, not only to play in the physical numbers, but also to know the legal impediments that may affect citizenship,” the mayor said.
Senator Marcos also gave his thoughts regarding the role of civil registration in the daily lives of every Filipino.
“Civil registration is carried out primarily to establish legal document as provided by law. Such of these are the vital events like birth, death, marriage, annulment of marriage, adoption and legitimization, and other legal documents derived from civil registration,” Marcos said.
“To be honest, if you don’t consider those things important, I don't know what is,” Marcos lamented.
Currently, there are bills pending in Congress to update the civil registration system. An example is how the first copy of a birth certificate of child will be obtained for free.
There are also suggestions on how to devise institutionalized systems for civil registration to adapt the growing population.
Among the topics discussed in the conventions were the immediate amendment of the civil registry law, accessibility to the civil registry documents, creation of national inter-local civil registry database and network, designation of barangay secretaries as civil registration assistants and involving them in capacity building.
Dr. Lisa Grace Bersales of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also gave an update on the civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) of the country. She said the current CRVS of the Philippines in terms of birth registration is already 93%. By 2024, CRVS would reach 100%. (Gensan CPIO/ Ian John Lagare)
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