Clerical error bill signed into law

Good news for those who want their names corrected if they were wrongly written in the civil register: they are no longer required to go to court to have the necessary correction made.

A law signed by President Arroyo last week dispenses with the court process in correcting errors in entries in the civil register.

Republic Act 9048 is known as the Gunigundo Law, named after its principal author, Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo I (Lakas, Valenzuela).

Gunigundo told reporters yesterday that his measure "is a pro-poor piece of legislation that will no longer require a judicial order to correct a wrongly spelled or typed given name, middle name or family name."

He said many poor Filipinos have had to live with wrong names appearing in the civil register and other public documents simply because they cannot afford to hire a lawyer and go to court to have the necessary corrections made.

"Going to court is no longer required. All those with errors in their names have to do is petition the civil registrar for the correction. The registrar has the power to enter the correction," he said.

He added that he was proud of his "humble contribution to our people for their own welfare."

Mrs. Arroyo’s signing of the measure into law was welcomed by members of the Philippine Association of Local Civil Registrars, who said they could not do anything about requests for correcting errors in names because the old law prohibited them from doing so. – Jess Diaz