Intensify efforts vs fake Philippine birth registration, PSA urged

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to intensify efforts in curbing counterfeit record-keeping and preventing the fake birth registration of foreigners, advising the agency to adopt a proactive, community-based approach to assist individuals who are not yet registered in the civil registry in securing their birth certificates.

Gatchalian urged the PSA to strike a balance between assisting those who are not yet included in the civil registry and preventing unscrupulous individuals or groups from exploiting the late registration program to secure fraudulent birth certificates, as in the case of Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, also known as Alice Guo.

The senator earlier filed Senate Bill 2914, which seeks to overhaul the country’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system to address counterfeit record-keeping following the discovery of fake birth registrations involving foreigners engaged in criminal activities.

“It should not only be ministerial that will only accept applications and PSAs. If you are from the province, it can be really difficult to get a document,” Gatchalian noted in Filipino during a consultative meeting conducted by the Senate committee on justice and human rights on the proposed Philippine CRVS Act.

Gatchalian said the city government of Valenzuela implemented a similar approach after observing that some factory workers in the city lacked birth certificates, which hindered them from conducting public and financial transactions. In response, the city government deployed dedicated personnel to assist individuals in completing the requirements for late registration.

He noted that the assistance program helped applicants complete the necessary steps, including obtaining affidavits from two disinterested persons and securing a statement from the traditional midwife or hilot who attended their birth.

Gatchalian added that a proactive framework offers a pathway to improved accessibility and inclusivity, empowering citizens to fully participate in economic and legal systems by resolving barriers to civil registration.