Manila: Lawmakers on Tuesday filed a measure seeking to make birth, death, and marriage registration fully digital, inclusive, and accessible to all Filipinos. House Bill No. 5213, also known as the Philippine Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Act, aims to modernize the country's civil registration system through a comprehensive reform of Republic Act No. 3753, or the Philippine Civil Registry Act of 1930.
According to Philippines News Agency, the bill aligns with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council agenda for Public Administration and Civil Services. The measure envisions a fully digital, inclusive, and responsive CRVS system that guarantees universal registration of births, deaths, and marriages.
The proposed legislation will cover other acts, events, decrees, and issuances affecting the civil status of persons in the Philippines and all Filipino citizens abroad, while strengthening the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) as the lead implementing agency.
Under the measure filed by Tingog Party-list Representatives Yedda Marie Romualdez, Andrew Julian Romualdez, and Jude Acidre, the registrations will be free of charge and simplified through a fully digitized process, including mobile and barangay-level registration systems. It also mandates professionalization and continuing education for local civil registrars, training for physicians and local health officers on medical certification of deaths, and coordination among government agencies through a Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Inter-Agency Cooperation Committee.
The bill directs the PSA to reorganize its Civil Registration Service into a new Civil Registration Office headed by a Deputy Civil Registrar General, with strengthened regional and field offices. It also establishes the Barangay Civil Registration System to facilitate registration at the community level, ensuring no Filipino is excluded from documentation due to distance, poverty, or displacement.
Rep. Yedda Romualdez stated, 'Legal identity is the first public service and the gateway to all others. When a child's birth is registered, we unlock a lifetime of rights -- healthcare, education, protection from exploitation, and access to opportunity.' She further emphasized, 'By modernizing our civil registration and vital statistics system, we are making a clear commitment: No Filipino will be invisible to the State because of poverty, distance, or displacement. This bill transforms paperwork into protection, and data into dignity.'
