A 32-year-old woman without a birth certificate faces registration problems because her entire family has no birth records. The Philippine Statistics Authority has a solution to her dilemma.

In a 24 Oras report on Wednesday, Kapuso Action Man Emil Sumangil reported that Yan Alvando tried to apply for a delayed birth registration at a local civil registry but was unable to do so due to lack of supporting documents.

“Hindi po kami naipa-registrang aking naipa. Hindi ko po alam ang saksa kung baket,” Alvando said.

“Yung langang po ng supporting documents, the birth certificate, po ng angang ko kasi wala po talaga silang record at hindi na po ako nattataka kung kami’y walang record kasi sila mismo wala rin po,” she added.

(My parents couldn’t register us and I don’t know why. They told me I don’t have supporting documents like my parents’ birth certificates because they really didn’t have records. I’m not surprised if we don’t have a record because they don’t have one themselves either.)

Alvando also said she did not know how to obtain her parents’ birth certificates.

The PSA solution

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Alvando family’s case can be addressed through the Birth Registration Assistance Project (BRAP).

According to the 2020 Population and Housing Census, 3.7 million Filipinos do not have birth certificates.

Under the BRAP, the case of Alvando and her family will undergo a thorough investigation and trial before some requirements of Memorandum Circular 2024-17 and 17-A are waived.

“We recognize that we can produce supporting documents. Then, yung atin pong PSA sa Bicol, a regional office or a probinsya aming facilitates outside the city to process the late registration,” said Engineer Marizza Grande, Assistant National Statistician PSA-Civil Registration Service.

(We recognize that some of our compatriots find it difficult to submit supporting documents. PSA regional office in Bicol or our provincial office can facilitate out-of-town processing of late registration.) —Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA Integrated News