NSO to mark February as registration month

Cebu - The National Statistics Office will celebrate the Civil Registration Month in February in pursuant to Proclamation No. 682 issued in 1991 by then president Corazon Aquino.

With the theme “Civil Registration: Key to global opportunity,” the celebration aims to remind the public of the need to register, and to enhance the nationwide awareness of the legal, administrative and statistical values of civil registry documents.

“Likewise, it seeks to underscore the necessity for Congress to provide adequate funds for enforcement and administration of laws on civil registration,” NSO-7 head statistician Edwin Carriaga. 

As part of the celebration, NSO will conduct information dissemination in schools and institutions to inform the public on the importance of civil registration.

Carriaga explained that NSO advocates that parents register their child because the birth certificate would determine their identity. “Birth Certificate is the only document that can trace you on your mother land.”

NSO-7 information officer Noel Rafols said the first right of a child the moment he comes out of his mother’s womb is to have a name.

The NSO reported that as of 2000 Census, there are 2.6 million children who are not registered nationwide. In Region 7, there are 122,000 unregistered children.

Most of these children were born in remote areas where parents find it hard to register them because of physical barriers, economical and legal problems such as the issue on illegitimacy of the child.

Carriaga said that most cases of non-registration can be attributed to parents who decide not to immediately register their children immediately after birth to until their marriage.

Carriaga said that the civil registration is very important as it would greatly help the government in the implementation of basic services.

According to NSO, birth records present many facts about an individual such as the person’s name, date and place of birth, parents, religion, 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 others. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/LPM (THE FREEMAN)